{"id":13574,"date":"2017-12-26T07:00:52","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T14:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=13574"},"modified":"2021-07-07T15:26:41","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T21:26:41","slug":"one-last-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/one-last-gift\/","title":{"rendered":"One last gift?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Babs
Babs Finkle makes a donation in 2016 at the UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Donation Center in Fort Collins. Garth Englund officials recently announced that local blood supply levels are low because of the holidays and encouraged residents to make an appointment to donate blood. Photo courtesy of UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. (Dec. 26, 2017) \u2013 Officials at UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Donation Centers are asking the public to consider giving one last gift this holiday season: the lifesaving gift of a blood donation.<\/p>\n

Holiday activities, travel,\u00a0and seasonal illnesses often prevent people from sticking to their regular blood donation schedules in December and January, according to Larisa Maristany, the supervisor at the blood donor centers. The seasonal lull impacts local blood supplies when the needs of patients remain steady. Facing low blood supplies in northern Colorado, Maristany and her team are encouraging eligible donors to end the year \u2013 or start the new year \u2013 with real meaning by donating blood for hospital patients in need.<\/p>\n

Fort Collins resident Linda Maher knows first-hand the importance of blood donations. In November 2015, she suffered life-threatening injuries in a car crash. She needed 22 units of blood and platelets as surgeons repaired her bladder, kidneys, stomach, intestines,\u00a0and pelvis at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just never know when it could be you,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd you take for granted that there will\u00a0always be a supply, but that\u2019s not the real truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donations of all blood types are needed and important, Maristany said. However, the center especially needs donors with the following blood types:<\/p>\n