Those in the Eastern community who would like to donate blood can make an appointment for Friday between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Appointments can be made at login.bloodcenter.org/donor.

Donations will be taken at the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center Bloodmobile between the Doudna Fine Arts Center and the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Students must make an appointment and wear their masks at all times.

Students who have recovered from COVID-19 can also schedule a plasma donation to help patients fighting COVID-19, by emailing [email protected] or calling (833) 610-1025.

Blood donated by recovering COVID-19 patients has the virus antibodies and can be processed to remove the blood cells to leave the plasma and antibodies. This can be given to patients fighting COVID-19 to boost their abilitiy to fight the virus.

The process, convalescent plasma therapy, can be used with those hospitalized with COVID-19. For those who receive the treatment it can lessen the severity or shorten the length of the disease.

Some risks of convalescent plasma therapy include allergic, lung damage, difficultly breathing and infections like HIV, hepatitis B and C.

However, all donations are tested and the likelihood of infections is low.

The risk of getting COVID-19 from convalescent plasma hasn’t been tested yet.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, blood drives across the nation have been cancelled.

According to bloodcenter.org, the need for blood usually increases in the winter months, but with the pandemic cancelling everything, the need for blood donations has skyrocketed. One person’s donation could save three lives.

Emilee Tosh can be reached at 581-2812 or ertosh@eiu.