A blood drive will be held from 2:15 to 6 p.m. Monday at Harp’s Foods in Gore.

Diane Wajszczuk of United Blood Services in Fort Smith, Ark., urged donors to give blood during the drive.

“It is important to come together as a community to help one another,” she said.

Potential donors can schedule an appointment for the blood drive by visiting www.bloodhero.com or by calling (479) 651-7168.

Wajszczuk said, “It takes large numbers of blood donations every day to meet the needs of area patients and to be ready for emergencies. We all expect blood to be there for us if we ever need it, but only about 5 percent of area residents donate blood.”

Wajszczuk explained that United Blood Services uses special equipment to collect one or more specific blood components at one donation.

“We look at blood usage trends to fine-tune collections of a particular component and maximize the effectiveness of blood collection efforts. These collection processes take longer than a whole blood collection — between 15 and 90 minutes longer.”

“Each blood donation can help several patients,” Wajszczuk said. “At the blood center, trained laboratory technicians separate the whole blood donations into components (including red blood cells, plasma and cryoprecipitate). Platelets are collected separately, using special equipment that separates platelets from whole blood right at the donor chair and returns the donor’s red cells and plasma.”

Wajszczuk said red blood cells are used for surgery patients. Plasma is the golden, liquid portion of the blood. It provides clotting factors that help control bleeding for surgery and trauma patients. Platelets are required for cancer and leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy. Cryoprecipitate is a concentrate of clotting factor that is used to control massive bleeding during surgery or trauma care. While individual components are transfused for specific medical needs, a patient with a serious injury may require several different components.

Volunteer blood donors must be at least 16 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good health. Additional height and weight requirements apply to donors 22 and younger, and donors who are 16 or 17 must have signed permission from a parent or guardian. All blood donors receive a free cholesterol test.