In light of the horrific shootings at Pulse Orlando, the City of West Palm Beach have come out in force to support our LGBT brothers and sisters in Orlando by donating blood which is in short supply.
On Monday, the Police Station hosted a blood drive with two buses that collected 75 pints of blood.
75 pints of blood were collected by 8 phlebotomists in 2 @my1blood buses in only 7 hours! #Orlando #community pic.twitter.com/nwhrdAujIP
— West Palm Beach Police Department (@WestPalmPD) June 13, 2016
Our hard working police officers responded to the “Call of Duty” and gave blood
Officer Will Pinto responding to the "call of duty." #OrlandoStrong #OneBlood @WestPalmPD pic.twitter.com/XXAgZGhKCl
— Jimmie Johnson Jr. (@itsjimmieontv) June 13, 2016
And Channel 25 reporter, Jimmie Johnson Jr, gave blood.
Right Now: Giving blood @WestPalmPD to benefit #Orlando shooting victims. My donation may save 3 lives! @WPBF25News pic.twitter.com/TGW44GKqYm
— Jimmie Johnson Jr. (@itsjimmieontv) June 13, 2016
Reports from the scene were that the “Whole thing took 40 minutes to register for the national bone marrow registry and then go through the paper work and blood donation.”
Today I got an email from Commissioner Shanon Materio regarding the blood mobile on Clematis and Dixie.
With the help of Don Chester of St Mary’s Medical Center and Mark Nosacka of Good Samaritan Hospital and the City of WPB I have been able to secure the blood mobile for additional date and location. The Blood Mobile will be located on Clematis Street and Dixie Highway on the north side of the street. For those using the City parking garage please show you blood donor slip and the parking will be free.
Clematis Street & Dixie
From 9am – 4pm
Free Parking at City Parking Garage
There is still a need for plasma and whole blood for the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando. It does take as much as 2 hours at time to make the donation depending on when you arrive to donate. By having an additional location and date hopefully more people will have the opportunity to give. The blood mobile will be there and open to donors from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Please use your social media and neighborhood Association email blast to notify your neighborhood of this important community the message.
As we move further from the date of this horrible event lets not forget a couple of hundred people witnessed the horror first hand. These are people that will be scarred for life with the images and sounds of the carnage. Keep all in you prayers. While we can give blood to the wounded, pray for the families and friends, please support the LGBT community with love.
Commissioner Shanon Materio
Hope to see you there!