By Anjuli Niyogi

On May 20th, the Millbrae Area Red Cross hosted a blood drive at the local Westin San Francisco Airport hotel between 11 am and 4 pm. All participants had to schedule an appointment online to donate and had to follow coronavirus safety protocols.

All participants had to have received a coronavirus vaccine to donate blood and must have been symptom free. No waiting period was needed between getting the vaccine and donating. 

As the need for blood donations remains high, blood drives like these are essential for health care to keep providing for their patients. Henceforth, all blood types were welcome (especially Type O) in order to restock the country’s blood supply for the coming months. 

Donating blood is not for adults only; in california, donors can be as young as 16 years old and donate with parental consent. There are weight and height requirements, but if a youth ages 16+ is eligible with parent consent, they are more than able to donate. 

At this local Millbrae blood drive, anyone who donated  blood, platelets or plasma in May through the Red Cross was automatically entered for a chance to win a travel trailer camper that sleeps five from Suburban Propane. Anyone who donated in May before the 16th also received a $5 Amazon gift card.

If you missed out on your chance to donate this month, there are many other opportunities to donate. The Red Cross is constantly having blood drives around the Bay Area and more locations can be found at their website: www.redcrossblood.org.