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NEWPORT — In partnership with national blood center Vitalant, Newport will host three blood drives across April and May.
Newport Community Hospital, 714 Pine St., is hosting a blood drive from 9 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. April 22. Another blood drive will be hosted at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, 612 W. 1st St., from noon to 5 p.m. April 24, and Newport High School is hosting the third and final blood drive from 8:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. May 5.
“We run several community and high school drives in and around Newport all year long,” wrote Vitalant communications manager Kristin Conner in an email.
As of Feb. 28, Newport Community Hospital donors have given 246 units of blood since 2023, translating into 738 lives saved, according to Vitalant data sent via email by Jenny Smith, Newport Community Hospital public information officer.
A patient in the U.S. needs blood every two seconds, Smith wrote. Donors of all types are needed locally, especially those who are type O, the most relied-upon in emergencies where testing the patient’s blood type would take too long.
Ongoing seasonal cold and flu illnesses can quickly diminish blood supplies, Smith wrote, making it especially important for healthy and eligible donors to give blood.
There is no waiting period to donate blood after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine or flu shot, Smith wrote.
Vitalant is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit blood and biotherapies healthcare organizations. Providing hospitals and patients across the country with a safe blood supply, Vitalant has a network of about 115 donation centers and hosts about 60,000 blood drives annually. Besides acting as a national blood center, Vitalant provides “specialized laboratory services, transfusion medicine expertise and cutting-edge research,” according to its website at www.vitalant.org.
