With someone in the United States needing blood every two seconds, COPS Monitoring recently rolled up its sleeves to help the American Red Cross by hosting a blood drive at its Williamstown, N.J., headquarters for the eighth consecutive year.
According to the Red Cross, hospitals and emergency treatment facilities across the country use 38,000 units of blood for their patients on a daily basis.
This year's COPS blood drive, held Feb. 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., attracted 42 people. The success of this year's drive was due in large part to the high participation level from COPS employees, who made up about 90 percent of the donors.
"I was very happy with this year's COPS employee turnout, which was one of the highest in our eight years of supporting the Red Cross," said Catherine Eisenhower, human resources manager, who organized the blood drive with the Red Cross and promoted it in the local community.
COPS hosted its first Red Cross blood drive in 2001. That event was such a success that the Red Cross asked COPS to make it an annual event, which COPS was happy to agree to do.
"COPS is proud to sponsor a blood drive each year, and we appreciate all those who turn out to roll up their sleeves to help the Red Cross save lives," said James McMullen, president of COPS Monitoring.
The challenge the Red Cross faces is that only about 38 percent of people in the U.S. are eligible to give blood, and only 8 percent of those actually give blood. This leads to blood shortages across the country, particularly in winter months, when the blood supply often drops to seriously low levels.
If you are interested in doing your part to help the American Red Cross, call 800-GIVE-LIFE or visit www.pleasegiveblood.org to locate your closest donor center.
