By By William F. West / community editor
July 25, 2002
A spokesman for United Blood Services in Meridian, citing a low blood supply, is urging people to stop by and roll up their sleeves.
United Blood Services is a non-profit blood provider with centers located across the country.
The Meridian center is located at 1115 25th Ave. It is open today until 8 p.m. two hours longer than usual to accommodate working people.
It will also be open Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. again two hours longer than usual and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Donors on Saturday can also go to the Outback Steakhouse on South Frontage Road, where a bloodmobile will be stationed from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Smith also said hospitals are doing more procedures such as heart surgeries and cancer patients continue to need a lot of blood.
She said cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy lose not only their cancer cells but many of their good blood cells, resulting in the loss of blood-clotting ability. That, she said, makes them vulnerable to hemorrhaging.
The work of United Blood Services is not confined to hospitals in Meridian. Smith said workers deliver blood to hospitals as far west as Forest, as far north as Columbus and Starkville and as far east as Tuscaloosa, Ala.