Graafschap Fire Dept. expanding blood drive dates

Blood drives at the Graafschap Fire Department station continue to grow in popularity. Starting in January, the American Red Cross drives will happen every other month – six times a year — at the Laketown Township site instead of quarterly — four times a year.

The last quarterly event is Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. at the station, 4534 60^th St.

For an appointment on Nov. 21, visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter sponsor code GFD or call (800) 733-2767.

More dates

Blood drives started at the fire station on Aug. 31, 2023. Each successive quarterly event collected more units. The growing popularity of the drives led organizers to move the collection site from the training room to the larger area in the truck bays.

“The quarterly blood drives at the Graafschap Fire Department have been very successful so far,” said blood drive coordinator Dave Grumney, Captain, Training & Health/Safety at the department. He reached out to the American Red Cross to changing the schedule from quarterly to every other month.

The new arrangement will allow regular donors to fulfill their 56-day rotation.

The scheduled dates are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays Jan. 30, March 27, May 29 and July 31.

Previously, the fire department drew on the marketing from another drive at Central Wesleyan Church. Now, the department will be on its own to attract donors, with recruitment already beginning for the new schedule.

“When GFD ran under the Central Wesleyan banner, we were able to communicate to all donors affiliated with that drive. Now that they have our own banner, we’ll have to recruit from the ground up,” said Scot Dinsmor, regional coordinator for the American Red Cross. “The good news is that the blood drives will be searchable on the Red Cross website using the donors zip code, but they can also use the sponsor code ‘GraafschapFD.’”

During blood drives at the fire station, donors can meet firefighters, take a tour of the station and have questions answered about other programs including smoke detector checks and installation, rental inspections, burn permits, CPR classes, and home safety audits.

Risk reduction

These programs are a part of the Community Risk Reduction initiative started in 2022.

The department has free weekly blood pressure checks at the facility from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays.

Reflective address signs are made in-house by Graafschap Fire Department retirees. The signs are usually ready for pick up at the fire station after two business days of receiving the order – and the $20 cost is paid at the time of pick-up.

The signs can also be ordered here.

The program also continues a smoke and carbon monoxide installation program. Free alarms installed by firefighters are available to residents. These 10-year lithium battery alarms are provided by a state grant.

For more information, call the fire department at (616) 396-4060 or visit here.