Area Residents To Be Honored For Milestone Platelet Donations
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On Monday, the American Red Cross will honor local platelet pheresis donors at the annual Platelet Pheresis Appreciation Banquet for their outstanding support of platelet donation. Combined, these donors have given more than 4,374 platelet products this past year. A single platelet donation can take as long as two hours to complete.
In addition to Elkhart County, donors travel from St. Joseph, Kosciusko and LaGrange counties to the Goshen donor center to give the gift of platelets.
Four categories of awards will be presented. Milestone awards recognize donors who have donated 100, 200 and 300 platelet pheresis donations in their lifetime. Another category recognizes donors who have given 24 times in one year, the most platelet pheresis donations a person can donate in a year.
Platelet pheresis uses a cell separator to collect only platelets and returns the other blood components to the donor. The concentrated dose of platelets collected through platelet pheresis is as many as six to 24 times the amount collected in a traditional whole blood donation. Platelet products are primarily used by cancer patients. When a patient is having extensive chemotherapy, the production of blood cells is affected and the platelet count may drop to a critical level.
The Platelet Pheresis Appreciation Banquet will be at the Elkhart Community Fairgrounds in the Martin/Fiddler Rooms, at 17746-D County Road 34, Goshen. Banquet registration and dinner begins at 5:30 p.m. with program to start at 6 p.m. A portion of the banquet is being sponsored by Fenwal Blood Technologies Inc.
If you are 18 years of age or older, weigh at least 110 pounds, and are in good general health, you may be eligible to donate platelet pheresis. Call 800-589-8127 to schedule your platelet pheresis donation appointment.
