15/07/2011

The search is on to top up the region's blood supplies, as one of York's leading educational charities joins forces with the NHS Blood and Transplant Service (NHSBT) to find local people willing and able to give blood.

The local blood drive forms part of York Archaeological Trust's Medicine Through the Ages Festival, which takes place in York between 30 July and 5 August.

The Trust's Director of Attractions, Sarah Maltby, says the festival provides the perfect platform to raise awareness of blood bank levels in the region and highlight the very real need for donors, particularly for blood types that are in low supply:

"The festival will bring medicine to life and show just how much things have changed since the Viking age to present day. Blood transfusions are a relatively recent medical development - something the Vikings certainly didn't have access to - and many of us just assume blood will be available to us today if we need it. Without local donors though, that's not necessarily the case."

Victoria Hatcher from the NHSBT adds, "Currently, 96% of the population relies on the other 4% if they need a blood transfusion and none of us know if or when we may need to receive blood.

"There are certain blood types that are in short supply in this region," she says. That's why we're very keen to work with York Archaeological Trust to raise awareness of the very real need for donors and to encourage people who are eligible to give blood to do so."

The Blood Service will be on hand at the Merchant Adventurers' Hall on Sunday 31 July as part of the launch weekend for the week-long festival. The festival launches in York on Saturday 30 July with an encampment in Coppergate Square featuring displays of medical skills, tools and techniques from Viking and Tudor times and the Second World War.

It then moves to the Merchant Adventurers' Hall on the 31st for a day-long Medicine on the Front Line event, where costumed re-enactors from a range of historic periods will show how they dealt with the sick and with soldiers injured in battle.

From there, the Medicine Through the Ages festival will run until Friday 5 August with a series of themed events around York. - ENDS -

For more information about this story, contact Karen Nixon or Hannah Trinder at Partners PR on 01904 610077.

Note to editors

Giving blood

Blood donors can be people in good health between the ages of 17 and 65. For more information about giving blood, visit www.blood.co.uk 

Medicine through the Ages
For more information please go to www.jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk