MEDIC, Smokies team up for blood drive

This summer the Tennessee Smokies Baseball team and MEDIC Regional Blood Center are teaming up to save lives. If you donate blood to MEDIC at any blood drive from now through Labor Day you will receive a limited edition Tennessee Smokies T-shirt and a coupon for a free Chick-Fil-A sandwich. You also will have a chance to win tickets to Smokies home games. In Sevierville, you may donate blood Friday, June 25, at Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center Nursing Home, 709 Middlecreek Road, 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. MEDIC must collect a minimum of 325-350 units of blood a day for the 28 hospitals it serves in 21 counties. Besides a T-shirt and Chick-Fil-A coupon, donors also receive a free cholesterol level evaluation (no fasting required) and MEDICS Family Blood Coverage. Family coverage means that a pint of blood donated to the MEDIC Regional Blood Center will ensure your family does not have to pay blood supply processing fees at any hospital in the U.S. MEDIC Regional Blood Center reports fewer O-Positive and O-Negative blood donations for spring than normal. Traditionally, blood donations are steady in April and May with blood collections becoming critically low during December holidays, winter and summer months. Donors must have positive identification, must be at least 17 years old and with at least 110 pounds. There is no upper age limit for donating.