Hosting a blood drive for your local American Red Cross is
a great thing to do. Did you know that one blood donation
can help save up to 3 lives? Only 5% of eligible Americans
give blood. Donated blood only last for 42 days. You can
donate blood as many as 6 times a year. There is a 97%
chance that someone you know will need a blood transfusion.
(American Red Cross Quote) If you are not already
regularly giving blood, I urge you to do so. Post these
facts in your office or in a mail out letter to your
patients. Your community and patients will respect your
efforts to help those who are in need of blood donations.
So now you are ready to host a blood drive. That's great!
You can contact the national directory for the American Red
Cross at 1-800-GIVE LIFE or www.givelife.org.
Once you set
a date and time the American Red Cross should help you
promote your event. They should be able to post minimal
signage and make phone calls to previous donators in your
area. Remember to encourage your patients to donate as
well. If you would like, you can offer incentives for
patients who donate. If your patients have a friend or
family member who wants to donate this would be a good time
to introduce yourself to them. It will also be great time
to introduce yourself to the general public who show up to
donate blood.
Once the date has been set, get ready to educate the blood
donors. When I set up our blood drives, I explained to the
American Red Cross coordinators that I wanted the
opportunity to give each donor a free spinal screening. I
also held a drawing at the end of the week for Biofreeze, a
free exam and set of x-rays (if necessary) to a few lucky
donors. When a donor shows up to give blood, they sign in
with the American Red Cross. This is the time that they
fill out your slip for your drawing as well. Information
should include name, address, phone number and optional
email address for monthly email newsletter. Another good
piece of information to ask for on your drawing slip is,
"do you have any questions for the doctor?" This gets the
potential patient already thinking about possibly getting
help from you. It also gives you information to talk about
if you decide to make a follow up call.
After they have donated blood, they are required by the
American Red Cross to stick around for about 10 minutes to
make sure there are no problems such as excessive
hemorrhaging. This is a great chance for you to thank them
for coming out and talk to them about chiropractic care.
As always there should be plenty of take home information
about your practice for your guest. With any event I
cannot emphasis enough how important it is to follow up on
potential patient leads. Although you want to make sure
you do not excessively bother people. Following up on a
lead means either sending a letter or phone call stating,
"It was nice to meet you and please let us know if we can
help you or anyone you know in anyway." You can also leave
a magnet and two business cards in the letter. People will
respect your professionalism if you do not badger them.
You would be surprised how many people will call even six
months to a year later to make an appointment.
This should be a very successful event for you and your
practice. We have done very well in the past. Even some
of the American Red Cross employees have even started care
in our office!
Once you host a successful blood drive you should consider
hosting blood drives on a regular basis. This will make
the community more aware of when and where they can donate
blood. At the same time it generates positive exposure for
your practice. Again another win, win, win situation for
you, your patients and those in need of blood donated to
the American Red Cross.
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Provided by http://www.marshallchiropractic.com
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