Local business partnered with Vitalant for a blood drive

A new local business partnered with a nonprofit to supply local hospitals with blood.

A blood donation truck courtesy of Vitalant pulled up to Intriguing Beauty in Biloxi Saturday to collect blood donations.

Representatives said hospitals are in dire need right now. Across the U.S., facilities are dangerously low in the aftermath of another COVID wave.

The American Red Cross says it’s experiencing ‘the worst blood shortage in more than a decade.’ Vitalant Donor Recruiter Nikelle Cooley said, “So basically the blood that is donated here, we send over to Lafayette to be processed and sterilized. But the good thing is that the blood stays in our home state. We supply over 50 hospitals here in Mississippi so the blood comes back home and it stays home. We never know when we need a blood donation. It can be me; it can be you; it can be a family member that’s in dire need of blood. So, if we look at it that way, you giving that blood could be you giving it to a family member who may need it in a time of need.”

Vitalant plans to return to the Coast for another blood drive in the near future.