Mountaintop Medicine from Estes Park Health: EPH teams with Blood Center for local donations

Donors can give at the hospital every three months

Blood is essential for life. It’s an elemental medical component for which there is no substitute. That’s why blood donor drives are so important.

Estes Park Health teams up with the UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Center once each quarter to host a blood drive at the hospital. Professionals from Fort Collins bring all the equipment they need to make these vital blood draws a success. Dozens of Estes Valley residents show up to help their neighbors in need.

Jeff Lindberg, 71, of Estes Park has been donating blood for decades.

“It’s just a good habit to get into,” he said. “I think it’s something a lot of people should do regularly, especially when they’re able to come up to Estes and have a session up here. If you’ve got good blood vessels, it’s easy. It doesn’t take too long, and it doesn’t really bother me afterwards.”

Others who show up are following in a family member’s footsteps.

“I remembered that my dad gave blood pretty much all his life,” noted Bob Hakenewerth. “He made it all the way to the 40-gallon club. It’s very easy. So, it’s a good thing.”

Joseph Dunn is the blood donor recruiter for UCHealth.

“We love to serve the community,” Dunn emphasized. “We do provide blood to Estes Park Health. So, this is a way to give back, is collecting blood for the community since we provide it to you guys. It’s been a good response, especially since we moved into the hospital. It has doubled what we normally collect. It’s good for your health. You burn 650 calories just lying here in the bed. It’s almost like an oil change for your body.”

The blood donated at Estes Park Health goes to support multiple facilities in northern Colorado, including EPH.

This precious resource is used for victims of trauma, cancer patients, and people having surgery among many others. Donating is one way Lorraine Darling lives out one of her mottos: Be kind.

“People need blood,” she noted. “If I can help, it’s an easy thing to do.”

Donors are screened and rewarded with a snack and some branded swag from EPH and the Blood Center. Folks like Don Marshall are happy to step up. It is a community service that doesn’t take long.

“I saw it in the paper,” Marshall said. “I live here in town, so it was easy to get over here and drop the blood off and go home. It’s something easy to do. It doesn’t take long. You can feel good about it after you do it.”

More than 80% of UCHealth blood products are the direct result of community-hosted blood drives. Estes Park Health is proud to help facilitate this important partnership.

The next blood drive at EPH is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024.

To watch a video about the EPH hospital blood drives for the community, go to https://youtu.be/TQatqN-Ps7I.