Beverly Press recently featured Cedars-Sinai’s Blood Donor Services and six Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) divisions who hosted competitive blood drives aimed at registering the most blood donors for the medical center. 

This year, LAPD's Pacific Division won the annual Operations-West Bureau Blood Drive Competition for the third consecutive year, registering 45 donors. The other participating LAPD divisions included Hollywood, Wilshire, West Traffic, Olympic and West Los Angeles.

Each division's blood drive was open to LAPD employees as well as members of the division's surrounding community. Together, the six divisions registered 168 donors and collected more than 150 units of blood – an increase of 11% from last year.

LAPD has been a longtime supporter of Cedars-Sinai's Blood Donor Services, participating in numerous blood drives over decades.

A single blood donation, which takes roughly 10 minutes to collect, can help save the lives of up to two individuals suffering from any of a variety of health conditions, including traumatic injury, cancer, blood disorders and heart conditions.

As one of the few Level I trauma centers in Los Angeles, Cedars-Sinai patients receive transfusions of more than 30,000 units of red blood cells, 7,000 units of platelets and 11,000 units of plasma every year.

Office managers and leaders of community organizations are welcome to  inquire about scheduling their own Cedars-Sinai blood drives. Depending on the number of potential participants, Cedars-Sinai will bring either a self-contained motor coach or a specially equipped box truck to the blood drive location and will provide everything necessary for the blood drive, including refreshments. 

To get more information about hosting a blood drive, call 310-423-7645 or click here to send a request to Blood Donor Services. 

​Read the complete Beverly Press story here.

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai blog: How Does Your Donated Blood Get to a Patient in Need?