Local Briefs: Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023
Local Briefs art
Community Blood Center announces blood emergency
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Community Blood Center recently announced a blood emergency following a summer of low donor turnout.
According to a news release, contributing to the shortage are the recent Labor Day holiday, back-to-school activities and a prolonged 50 percent decrease in youth and first-time donors. The region’s blood supply is well below the optimal five to seven days and while all blood types are needed, types O-positive, O-negative and B-negative and platelets are critically low, the organization said in the release.
“We know that our community will respond when they hear about the urgent need,” said Patsy Shipley, CBC vice president, in a statement. “The need is immediate and the call to action is to donate now. Moving forward we’re asking donors to donate once each season so that our community’s blood needs are consistently met.”
The sustained loss of youth and first-time donors, fewer organizations hosting blood drives and remote and blended work schedules have all combined to have a devastating impact on the local blood supply, noted the release. There is no surplus in the nation’s blood supply to help centers that experience seasonal shortages.
HHW collection scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 7
MARYVILLE, Mo. — The Nodaway County Household Hazardous Waste Collection Site will be accepting household hazardous waste from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 7, at the Nodaway County Maintenance Barn, 1516 E. Halsey St. in Maryville.
Drop-off is free for residents of Atchison, Gentry, Holt, Nodaway and Worth counties only. An ID is required. No commercial or business waste will be accepted.
HHW includes bleach; ammonia; household cleaners; fertilizers; pesticides; brake fluid; transmission fluid; household waxes; Ni-Cad, lithium and lead acid batteries; compact fluorescent light bulbs; fluorescent tubes; antifreeze; oil-based paint and varnish. No latex paint or commercial/business waste can be accepted. Keep materials in their original container.
For more information, contact Kirk Kopper at 660- 582-5121 ext. 4 or by email at [email protected].
Volunteer role players needed for annual emergency response training ‘Missouri Hope’
MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University will host its annual Missouri Hope emergency response field training exercise Oct. 12-15 and invites students, employees and community members to work in volunteer roles during the exercise.
Missouri Hope is a multidisciplinary mass casualty training experience at the Mozingo Outdoor Education Recreation Area (MOERA) and the Mozingo Youth Camp.
More than 600 volunteers of all ages are needed to play the roles of victims and bring a sense of reality to the training. Role players are made up to resemble victims with an assortment of physical injuries sustained from natural disasters such as a flood, tornado, earthquake or forest fire. Individuals interested in volunteering should register online by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10, by visiting https://forms.gle/vwMYY9YwTaw5vtuN7.
“The volunteer role players gain experience by seeing how such an operation works and how things as varied as communications, medical training, boating experience, physical fitness, fire suppression and even chemistry play a role in rescue efforts,” Peter Adam, a Northwest assistant professor of biology who assists with the training experience, said in a statement.
For more information about Missouri Hope and volunteering as a role player, contact Adam at [email protected].
