You’re Just Somebody’s Type!

Be part of the County’s long and proud tradition of saving lives.

Starting Wednesday, April 2, the County will launch its 30th Annual Blood Drive. This year, the event will also include a Be The Match marrow registry drive, to benefit patients fighting more than 70 different diseases including blood cancers or sickle cell anemia. Registering for a marrow database is as simple as having your cheek swabbed. The County Blood Drive is the third largest in the region.

Sign up now! Just visit the County Employee Blood Drive Web page and scroll to the bottom to find the time and location that best suits you. The drive will visit 11 different County offices throughout the month of April, from Chula Vista to Vista and stops in between. The first stop will be the County Administration Center in downtown San Diego on Wednesday, April 2 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Donating blood takes about an hour and the drives are open to employees and the general public.

Appointments are encouraged but prospective donors can also drop in.

No appointment is necessary to join the Be the Match marrow registry, and the process takes about five to 10 minutes. The nonprofit is seeking donors between the ages of 18 and 44.

The help is critically needed. Each day, the San Diego Blood Bank needs to collect 380 units of donated blood to meet the needs of patients in area hospitals.

Since the mid-1980s, the County has partnered with the San Diego Blood Bank on the drives, in all collecting more than 15,000 pints of blood. Each pint benefits three people, said Juan Olmeda, a cancer survivor and County employee who has chaired the County Blood Drive for the past nine years. The County began holding joint drives with Be The Match last year.

For more information on the marrow registry, contact Shelley Baker at Be The Match at 714-296-8479 (cell) or sbaker@nmdp.org or visit the organization’s website. For more information about the blood drive or to sign up, visit the County Employee Blood Drive Web page or the San Diego Blood Bank website or call 1-800-MY-4SDBB (469-7322).