Anderson – the driver behind the blood drive
BY SUZANNE WERRE
Editor
It was business-almost-asusual this past Tuesday as Turtle Lake’s Joan Anderson worked with staff members of Vitalant at one of the city’s annual blood drives.
There were a few unusual things. Joan was wearing a homemade coffee filter mask, and her husband Howard, also donning a mask, was taking everyone’s temperature as
they came in to donate blood. The ma ks and temperature-taking were typical measures that are being taken in these days of the coronavirus pandemic as people realize the need for
blood donations doesn’t go away because of the need for social distancing. “People still showed up,” said Joan. “Nobody could get in there without having their temperature taken first. It’s always taken during the interview booth, but we took it before they came in.” The blood drive had been scheduled for the previous Thursday, but was postponed
due to the snow storm. Moving the blood drive back a few days didn’t affect the turnout, as locals showed up to donate a total of 28 units of blood. There was even one
more donor who was able to donate who wouldn’t have Anderson – the driver behind the blood drive been able to on Friday. “One of the donors recruited somebody for me
that day,” Joan said. “I had 39 people that came to donate, and they did not shy away from wanting to do it, because they knew it was important,” she continued.
