Have you given blood lately? If not, it’s not too late. You can head over to Italy High School and walk right into the dome. Carter Blood Center is in town today and will remain until 5pm this afternoon.

A few students came in this morning and some members of the Italy community to donate blood. IHS Senior, Angelica Garza, “I like helping. I’d want someone to give blood to me if I needed it-plus I got this great shirt.”

Supervisor and phlebotomist, Lakish Conley, has been working for Carter Blood Center for three years, “Our goal today is to reach 32 donations.” She explained there are two types of donations-whole blood donation and apheresis. The whole blood donation doesn’t take long at all but Carter will need 6 of these pints compared to apheresis which only needs one. Apheresis is a procedure which the whole blood is removed from the body and then a desired component is retained, while the remainder of the blood is returned to the donor. This procedure takes about 45 minutes. “This would be used for red blood cells. In case of a car accident or surgery,” Conley explained. “The donor is not losing any volume and it puts fluid back.” The donor has a choice of which procedure used in the interview portion of registration.

Who can give blood? All donors must be at least 17 years old, bring a valid picture ID, weigh at least 110 pounds and must be feeling well and healthy on the day of donating. If you have any questions, call the Carter Blood Center at 817-412-5603 or 888-480-8200. They also have a website to answer your questions (carterbloodcare.org).