Be someone's hero at the UAB/Red Cross blood drive on Dec. 31

Be a hero and wrap up the holiday season with the gift of life at the UAB/Red Cross blood drive.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham and the American Red Cross will hold a special, one-day blood drive on Dec. 31. The holiday period disrupts usual blood donation patterns, often leading to shortages of blood for transfusions in January and February.  blooddrive joomla

The drive runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 31, at the UAB Hospital North Pavilion 2nd floor atrium, 18th Street and Sixth Avenue South. 

Each donor will receive a free movie ticket to any of the AMC movie theaters in the Birmingham area. Donors will also be registered for a drawing of a $25 gift card and all donors will receive a long-sleeve T-shirt. 

Donors should bring a photo ID. Appointments can be made at www.redcrossblood.org; sponsor codes UABNP.

UAB is one of the largest users nationally of blood supplied by the Red Cross. Donors can give blood up to six times a year, every eight weeks. The process takes about 45 minutes; the actual blood collection usually takes less than 20 minutes. 

Blood products are used during surgery, transplantation, trauma care, difficult pregnancies and cancer treatment. It is not unheard-of for a single patient to require as many as 100 units.