Your regular mini-physical

It’s easy to have a mini-physical every two months when you donate blood.

Each time you visit Marsh Regional Blood Center, we evaluate your blood pressure, pulse, temperature and red cell level (or hematocrit) before you donate.

Knowing your numbers, which are important health factors in and of themselves, can help keep you more informed about your own health between regular visits to your physician, especially if you donate regularly.

It can even help you detect changes in these health indicators over time.

Consistent local blood supply

Each time you give blood or platelets at Marsh Regional, you can rest assured your unit of blood – along with the units of other local donors – is waiting to be used for someone who needs it.

Your donation helps ensure the consistent availability of necessary blood supplies for our region.

Feel really good

You will feel great after you donate blood.

Why? For starters, you have helped save as many as three lives.

But there may be more to it than that.

Reducing excess iron

Yes, you read that right.

Anecdotal evidence indicates that many people – who typically have no natural way of reducing excess iron stores – feel better after donating blood. This is especially true for men.

That’s likely because your iron level drops a few points each time you donate blood. This forces your body to produce “new” blood to replenish the “old” blood you gave to someone who needed it.

It may work somewhat like a natural “oil change” for your body.

Honorary and memorial donations

The people we care about are priceless, and now the gift given to honor or remember them can be priceless, too.

Marsh Regional offers the perfect opportunity to honor or remember that special person in your life while giving your generous gift of life to a person in need.

When you make your Honorary or Memorial Gift of Life donation, we will send the friend or family member of your choice a card of acknowledgment. So the next time you give blood to save a life, make your donation twice as special by honoring or remembering someone.

Submission forms to complete this process are available at any Marsh Regional collection center.

T-shirts, refreshments and swag

Each time you donate blood at Marsh Regional, we encourage you to take home a small token of our appreciation:

• T-shirts or hats
• Notepads and ink pens
• Donation stickers
• Pocket knives
• Ice scrapers and magnetic automobile ribbons

These are just a few examples of items we give away from time to time.

Special events and contests

Periodically, Marsh Regional conducts special contests and events to help make your donation experience as fun and enjoyable as possible.

These activities often include festive decorations, seasonal refreshments, special T-shirts or giveaways, and even opportunities to enter random drawings for larger items.

Donors4Life program

Marsh Regional’s Donors4Life program offers donors who would like to give regularly – at least 4 times per year – the opportunity to have a reminder card mailed to their home before their next eligibility date.

We offer other benefits for this very special group from time to time.

Gallon and multi-gallon awards

When donors reach the five-gallon milestone for donation, they receive a plaque on which they can display each successive gallon donation.

At some Marsh Regional locations, small lapel pins are awarded at each gallon up to the five-gallon level.

Ready to learn more?

Find a blood collection center, learn how to host a blood drive at your organization and more.

Give blood here – and help people here at home.