Greeley area residents can help their neighbors by donating blood and, now, they can do it closer to home.

UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Center – Greeley opened for blood donations Dec. 12, 2022, at 6906 W. 10^th St., next door to the Emergency Center in the NorthGate Village Shopping Center.

“Opening the Greeley center increases our ability to collect blood products, which is timely with UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies recently becoming a Level I Trauma Center,” said Anna Johnson, manager of UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Centers in Greeley, Loveland and Fort Collins.

All blood products donated at a Garth Englund center help patients at UCHealth’s Greeley Hospital, Poudre Valley Hospital, Medical Center of the Rockies, Longs Peak Hospital, Estes Park Medical Center and, on occasion, UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital.

“The blood you donate stays local,” Johnson said. “The life you might be saving could be your neighbor’s.”

Donors can provide platelet or whole blood donations, and patients may also receive therapeutic procedures at the center. It is open 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Friday and from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.

Donating platelets and whole blood in Greeley

Greeley resident Boosie Brodzinski started donating blood in the 1990s when her employer hosted a Garth Englund mobile blood bus. At the time, donating was an excellent excuse to get out of work for 45 minutes, she said. But over the years, it became Brodzinski’s way of giving back to her community. Now in retirement, she donates platelets. It takes about twice as long to donate than whole blood, but she recognizes the greater need for platelets, the body’s clotting resource, and she has extra time.

Platelets have a short shelf life: five to seven days compared with 42 days for red blood cells and 21 days for specific whole blood. That, combined with platelets being used more heavily by cancer patients and in trauma situations, makes them extremely valuable. A person can donate platelets every two weeks, and donate whole blood every eight weeks.

Brodzinski had been driving from Greeley to Loveland to donate platelets, always scheduling the donation to avoid “rush hour” traffic, but with the new center in Greeley, her drive is much shorter.

She was one of the first to donate at the new Greeley blood donation center.

“I’m so happy it’s here in Greeley now,” she said.

Kristen Berg, the blood recruiter for the Greeley center, is excited to welcome more donors like Bronzinski. Donors may schedule on line or walk in for an unscheduled visit. If someone wants to give but can’t for specific reasons, there is still an opportunity to help.

“There is room for everyone in blood donation,” she said. “If you are not eligible to donate, you can still contribute by hosting a blood drive.”

Garth Englund has two mobile blood buses available for on-site blood donation drives. If you want to host a blood drive, email [email protected]. To donate at a center, visit the donor portal to schedule a time that works for you.