Call for High Peak residents to give blood

The first blood donation session of the year for people in the High Peak is on Sunday and there is still time to sign up to become a donor.

This month the Advertiser launched a brand new campaign ‘Give a Pint, Save a Life’ which is our year-long drive aimed at encouraging more people to pledge to sign up to become blood donors.

Richard Shortland, NHS Blood regional head of marketing for the north, said: “This is a really great campaign and anything which encourages more people to become a donor is a good idea.

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“I know it is January and people are thinking about giving something up like chocolate or alcohol, but you could choose to give something back.

“Giving blood is a positive thing to do which gives back to the community and you can relax for an hour, put your feet up and let someone else do the hard work for once!”

The blood and transplant service has to supply 6,000 units of blood every month and although the NHS is now using blood more wisely there is still a need for more donors to sign up.

Richard explained that not all blood is the same, and blood donors need to match the diversity of people with various ethnicity and immune systems.

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There are four main blood groups – O, A, B and AB. Group O is the most common and therefore the most in demand.

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A regular supply of blood is vital – red cells last 35 days and platelets only seven days.

Richard said: “O Negative is a very special type of blood because it is the blood that can be used by anyone.

“Only nine per cent of people have this type of blood, but we need stocks to be at 13 per cent so constantly need more donors to come forward so we can help more people when they need it the most.”

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For those who do not know what their blood type is, they will be told after they give blood and any other medical condition they may not know about.

Richard said: “We need to make sure the blood donated can be used so we test it for all kind of illnesses so it’s like a mini health MOT.”

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n The next scheduled High Peak blood donation event is Sunday January 15 at New Mills Town Hall from 9.50am. To sign up to become a blood donor, or for more information, visit www.blood.co.uk

Pledge your support

Don’t forget to let us know if we’ve inspired you to give blood for the first time.

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Call our reporter Lucy Ball on 01298 767081 or email [email protected].

We have also printed a form (see below) for people to sign and pledge their support to the campaign.

In the meantime, we’re also interested in hearing more of your experiences of giving or receiving blood.

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Get in touch with your stories, or send us your donor selfies and let us share them with our readers.

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Contact Lucy on the above email, or submit them via our Facebook page www.facebook.com/buxtonadvertiser or on Twitter at @Buxton_News.

Remember, we’ll be running the campaign throughout the whole of 2017, so there’s plenty of time to get involved.