By Charly SHELTON

Montrose Church converted its sanctuary into a temporary donation center for a Red Cross blood drive on Wednesday afternoon. While there is always a need for blood donation, especially during a nationwide blood shortage, it is more important now than ever to donate plasma.

COVID-19 antibodies live in the plasma of those who had the disease and that plasma is being used for research and for direct antibody infusion for those currently fighting the disease. Red Cross tests all donation samples for COVID-19 antibodies to see if a donor might have had the disease and didn’t know it so their donation could be used for fighting the pandemic disease.

Drives like this one and the ongoing work done at permanent donation centers is directly saving lives through blood donation and helping end the pandemic through research samples collected.

  Charly Shelton