KY Blood Center representative shares important information at Rotary meeting

With January being National Blood Donor Month, the Corbin Rotary Club did its part to shine a light on this important topic by inviting Chris Richardson of the Kentucky Blood Center to speak during a recent meeting at David’s Steakhouse and Buffet.

Richardson has been with KBC for over 25 years, and currently manages donation centers in Somerset and Corbin. He also has many years of experience with helping operate the mobile blood centers that will routinely make stops in communities all over the commonwealth.

“Kentucky Blood Center is the largest non-profit, independent community blood center in the commonwealth,” Richardson said during his presentation. “We have grown from a small blood bank in 1968 to now serving more than 70 medical facilities across the state.”

In keeping with their slogan of “Live local. Give local,” Richardson explained that, at KBC, blood is collected, processed and distributed exclusively to Kentucky patients.

Richardson said that KBC currently operates eight donor centers in Lexington, Louisville, Pikeville, Frankfort, and right here in Corbin, with the recently opened local center being located in the Union Plaza at 1454 W Cumberland Gap Parkway. In all, the organization manages to service a total of 90 Kentucky counties.

With a patient needing to receive blood every few seconds somewhere in the United States, the KBC is committed to making sure that the supply stays at adequate levels here at home by setting out to collect 400 units (pints) of blood per day. Unfortunately, they are not always able to reach that goal.

“We try to get 400 units of blood per day, but currently we are averaging between 300-350,” Richardson explained. “It’s something that is needed really bad.”

For more information on how to give blood, contact the Kentucky Blood Center by callingl (800) 775-2522, or go online to www.kybloodcenter.org.

The new donor center in Corbin is open Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

The News Journal will provide information about future mobile blood drives taking place in our local area when those details become available.