January 6th marks the beginning of Vitalant's two-day All Reno Radio Blood Drive at the Atlantis Resort and Casino.
They're encouraging all eligible donors who feel healthy to come down and donate.
It's important to note that if you have a cold or you're on antibiotics, you should wait until you're fully healthy to donate.
Jackie Grams, account manager with Vitalant, says, "But if you are well and healthy, come on down. If you're not sure if you can donate, still come down. We'll find out together. It's an easy process. We want to make sure that you have your ID with you. You want to eat and hydrate really well before you come down. If you can make an appointment, that would be great."
Vitalant says that after the holidays, is when they really need to rebuild their inventory levels, because Vitalant services all the hospitals in northern Nevada.
Grams says, "Cancer patients, trauma patients, and labor and delivery patients—all of these individuals are waiting for that lifesaving transfusion so they can continue their treatment. They can have another day with friends and family. And the only place that blood can come from is from donors, from volunteer donors in our community."
Since it's their anniversary, there are a lot of fun things in store for those who donate.
"We have a lot of fun giveaways. We're doing a raffle at the top of every hour. So we're going to draw two names. So two lucky donors are going to win. Some really fun swag. We've got some really fun camping gear. We've got some fun things for the kids. We've got Scheels gift cards. Every donor is going to also receive a voucher from Pizza Guys for a small one-topping pizza. And then we also have two raffles, courtesy of the Atlantis. We have a $250 staycation package, and then we have $50 gift certificates." Grams said.
And if that wasn't everything you could ever ask for, they will also have t-shirts and snacks.
They do prefer appointments to be made, but they always take walk-ins for donations.
For their 40th anniversary, they're looking to collect over 300 donations, but they would love to go over that goal.
"We would love to hit 400 with the 40th anniversary. So if you can make an appointment and come down on day one, that would be fantastic. And again, day two as well."
They work on this event for months, but there are options if you want to donate and aren't able to make the blood drives the next couple of days.
Grams explains, "They can come to any of our sites. We have our main Reno location on Terminal Way. We have a facility out in Sparks on Sparks Boulevard, and then we have our Carson City location, which, actually, we have a new location opening up next Monday. And Carson City's brand new; it's a little bit easier to find. So you can donate at any of those sites."
