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Thank you Central Texas, Carter BloodCare and 25 News surpass goal for blood donations

Posted at 8:09 PM, Jun 14, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-14 21:09:28-04

CENTRAL TEXAS — The country is coming up on a 15-month national blood shortage. To address the need, 25 News partnered with Carter BloodCare to host blood drives across Central Texas.

The Carter BloodCare bus out here in Killeen has reached its goal of 12 donors. The nurses have been working since 10:00 am Monday morning screening everyone who has shown up. Between the Temple and Killeen locations, those walk-in clients have made all the difference to ensure the goals are met.

“We have a lot of walk-ins so that’s great! We are in a point-hitting summer that there is a critical need for blood," said Vickie Carpenter, with Carter BloodCare.

From Temple to Killeen, folks turned out to donate blood. One Temple donor, Diamond Jackson said donating today was her fourth time donating.

“I’ve always wanted to do something to help. They need blood to save people's lives. I feel like this is just a small token," said Jackson.

For first-time blood donors, Jackson said it can be intimidating but she said it's important to remember that you can save up to three lives with just one unit of blood.

Jackson said, “It’s not as bad as it seems, just don’t look at the needle!”

“We’ve been waiting for this all weekend,” said Laura O'Brien.

The blood shortage has lead Tim and Laura O'Brien to donate blood for the first time. The O'Brien's know the impact blood donations can have on someone in a critical state.

“Our daughter would have died without the generous donors,” said Mrs. O'Brien.

Mrs. O'Brien said her daughter was rushed to the hospital after an emergency and ended up needing at least 10 pints of blood. Blood saved their child's life, so now they’re just paying it forward.

Mr. O’Brien said, “We’re just trying to replace what we used.”

“It’s good for your body, it's good for your soul and if you come out and do it, you are going to save a lot of lives," said Mrs. O'Brien.

Throughout all three donation sites, 44 people were registered to be blood donors and 33 units of blood were collected, surpassing our goal of 25 units!