Trauma season and the blood supply
ImpactLife provides blood to more than 120 hospitals and emergency medical service (EMS) providers in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin, and to resource sharing partners across the country. Emergency room physicians and EMS specialists anticipate an increase in trauma and injuries that follow a seasonal pattern.
Dr. Doug Soltys, trauma surgeon with SSM Health Saint Mary's Hospital (Madison, Wis.), notes that warmer weather brings an increase in outdoor activities such as mountain biking, riding all-terrain vehicles, rock climbing, and more. Learn how blood transfusions are used to treat injured patients in the ER in our interview with Dr. Soltys, below.
LET'S PARTNER FOR LIFE
ImpactLife is a member of the first-in-the-nation partnership of community blood centers to help prepare our service region for emergencies that may lead to high demand for blood transfusions. The Blood Emergency Readiness Corps, or BERC, will also enable blood donors in our region to better support emergency needs that arise across the United States. Learn more about becoming a BERC Partner for Life.
Let’s battle it out to save lives! Battle of the Badges is a friendly competition between local Fire and Police Departments, where every blood donation is a vote on behalf of your favorite department. Check out the upcoming Battle of the Badges here and click here to partner for a Battle of the Badges in your community!
We’ve teamed up with C.O.P.S., a national law enforcement support organization, for Blue Blood Drives to honor law enforcement. National Law Enforcement Day is celebrated annually on January 9. We host a two weeklong blood drives at all of our donor centers and select mobile blood drives. Click here to host a Blue Blood Drive in your community!
While O Negative is universal for red blood cells, type AB is universal for plasma and can be received by any patient. Universal blood products are often used in emergency trauma situations and with infants or women that are pregnant. If your blood type is O negative, O positive, AB negative, AB positive, click here for how you can join the Rapid Response Team.
ImpactLife joins hospitals and emergency medical services providers in celebrating May 18-24, 2025 as Emergency Medical Services Week. The national campaign features messaging to honor the men and women who provide emergency medical services and acknowledge the accomplishments of EMTs and paramedics, while building awareness of their important role across the ImpactLife service region. The week to honor the important contributions of EMS workers comes at a time when ImpactLife is focused on improving blood donation schedules in the days leading up to Memorial Day Weekend and the unofficial start of summer. Learn more about becoming a Pre-Hospital Transfusion partner.
Watch the stories below to learn more
Toolkits
Download the Emergency Response toolkit and share images to help find new blood donors and new partners. Download the Hospital Partners toolkit and share images to help find new blood donors with our hospital partners.
Email Headers
Social Media Graphics
In The News