National Blood Donor Month: Find a Drive on Cleveland's West Side

West Siders, January is National Blood Donor month. Every year, the Red Cross puts out a special call in the first month of the year for donors to step up because many drives are cancelled or suffer from low attendance due to bad weather.

National Blood Donor month started being observed in 1970. The goal is to increase blood donations during what would otherwise be a down month. Besides bad weather, flu and other sicknesses tend to be more prevalent during the early winter months, making it hard for people to donate.

Blood can be donated safely every 56 days. Students who are 18 or younger have to meet certain height and weight requirements to donate. You also cannot donate if you're sick. Check with a doctor if you're worried you may be contagious, but want to donate blood.

Donating blood is a crucial way to help your fellow human beings. The World Health Organization provided a few examples of what donated blood is used for:

• Pregnancy complications before, during or after childbirth;
• Children with severe anaemia often resulting from malaria or malnutrition;
• People with severe trauma following man-made and natural disasters; and
• Complex medical and surgical procedures

The Red Cross has a list of upcoming blood drives in and around the West Side:

• Jan. 12 at the Westlake Recreation Center from 1 to 7 p.m.
• Jan. 15 at the Lakewood United Methodist Church from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Jan. 16 at the Middleburg Heights Community Center from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Jan. 17 at Strongsville's Russell Real Estate Services from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Jan. 18 at the Fairview Recreation Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Jan. 20 at the North Olmsted Library from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Jan. 21 at SouthPark Mall from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Jan. 23 at the Westlake Porter Library from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Jan. 23 at Troy Intermediate School in Avon Lake from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Jan. 24 at North Royalton Library from 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Jan. 25 at Baldwin Wallace College from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Jan. 25 at Fairview Park's Bain Cabin from 2 to 7 p.m.
• Jan. 26 at Strongsville Library from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Jan. 26 at Parma Library (Powers Blvd. Branch) from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• Jan. 30 at Avon Public Library from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Jan. 30 at Lakewood Women's Club Pavilion from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

If you can't make any of those dates, you can always stop by the Parma Blood Donation Center, 5585 Pearl Road. You can also find other blood drives, here.

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