Florida Blood Centers in new location

Florida Blood Centers has moved to a south Fort Myers location that is more accessible to donors and visible from Daniels Parkway.

The new 2,200-square-foot facility was opened at the Sweetbay Plaza to show donors that the bank appreciates their efforts and wants to make it easier for them to give blood.

"It's more convenient for the donor and we appreciate that they donate," said Larry Ganns, the blood bank's spokesperson. "This is on the way to things, which is what you want your place to be. It's not a destination type place."

The new location replaces another location that was in orth Fort Myers but the move was necessary because the south Fort Myers population is growing.

"We base a lot of locations on how many donations we get," said Ganns adding that the orth Fort Myers location did well but this center is more visible. "The community is growing in a certain direction ... we think that we ought to be over there."

Florida Blood Centers has two other locations in Bonita Springs and Cape Coral but he expects airport traffic on Daniel Parkway to draw more donors.

"Part of what we are doing is competing against everything else that people have going on in a donor's life," said Ganns about the new branch, which has been well-received so far.

Encouraging donors to donate, Ganns said, is about educating them that it's not painful and it can save as many as three lives.

"Our job is to convert the casual donor into a loyal donor," said Ganns, adding that they sometimes use incentives to get people in the door.

Most recently, the blood bank offered people a gas card for blood donations with an appointment or who walked into a branch location. And each day, one donor will receive $100 in gas. The promotion ends July 31.

"Generally there is a blood shortage and it's almost always constant. We need people to just donate," Ganns said.

According to a press release, cancer patients are in daily need of platelet treatments, burn victims use plasma, trauma victims need red blood cell transfusions and routine surgeries depend on the gift of a volunteer donor.