MENDOTA – Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center (MVRBC) will hold a blood drive from noon until 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 8 in Conference Room C at OSF HealthCare Saint Paul Medical Center in Mendota.

Volunteer blood donors are invited to support the local blood supply by scheduling an appointment to give blood. Please call the Community Health Services Department at (815) 539-1411 to schedule (appointments required) and bring a photo ID for use in donor registration.

Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center is also accepting referrals from individuals who have recovered from a COVID-19 infection and would now like to be scheduled for plasma donation to help newly diagnosed patients fight the disease. Potential donors who can provide documentation of a laboratory-confirmed positive test for COVID-19 and meet other health and safety criteria, will be scheduled for a COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma (CCP) donation.

Individual donors and care providers may refer themselves or their patients via the referral form available at www.bloodcenter.org or by calling (833) 610-1025. For additional information, potential donors or physicians may send inquiries to patientservices@mvrbc.org.

CCP donors must be fully recovered from their COVID-19 infection and must meet all standard eligibility criteria for blood donation. Plasma will only be collected from donors with laboratory-confirmed tests showing they had a COVID-19 infection and must be at least 28 days from the last date they experienced symptoms. These donors will have antibodies to help fight COVID-19 and will be scheduled for a plasma donation at a nearby donor center or mobile blood drive.

MVRBC is based in Davenport, Iowa with regional operations in Urbana (Community Blood Services of Illinois) and Springfield (Central Illinois Community Blood Center).