BEMIDJI 鈥� For the 10th year, the Bemidji Rotary Club, in partnership with Sanford Health, is hosting its annual blood screening event to provide community members an inexpensive way to learn more about their health.
The event kicked off Wednesday morning and continues from 7 to 10 a.m. Thursday, May 15, and Friday, May 16, just inside the Sanford Bemidji Medical Center鈥檚 main entrance.
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The test is $35 and includes screenings for cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoproteins, low-density lipoproteins, glucose, creatinine, hemoglobin, white blood cell count and liver.
This year, the proceeds will go to the United Way of Bemidji Area's Backpack Buddies program, a food assistance program that helps students have access to meals and snacks during weekends and holidays. It serves 22 area schools and provides meals to approximately 550 kids.
"The United Way came to us at Rotary asking if we would support them this year," explained Rotarian Michele Brielmaier. "It was definitely an obvious choice that this is something that we wanted to participate in. Because there are young people out there every day who need extra food and this allows them to have that."
In honor of their 10th anniversary of the event, Brielmaier said they hope to break their turnout record set in 2018.
"We are excited that we've had 10 years under our belt," she said. "We are hoping that we beat the 2018 record of 566 people, so we're just spreading the word and hoping that we have more than that this year."
She also said the club hopes to surpass last year's fundraising total of $5,617.
In order to achieve these goals, she noted that volunteers have made an extra effort this year to be out sharing about the event in the community, in addition to partnering with the Sanford lab to help streamline the blood-screening process.
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"Sanford always does a stellar job in promoting this event and we want to make sure that people recognize that there are needs within our community, and this is a great opportunity to get just a plethora of labs for $35 that would cost them hundreds of dollars if they did it individually," Brielmaier added, "and it's something they can do to make sure they're taking the best care of themselves."
Folks interested in participating can call (218) 333-2277, or walk-in appointments are also available on Thursday and Friday.
Fasting is not required. Participants will receive an official report from Sanford Laboratories with results compared to a reference range through My Sanford Chart or by mail.
A follow-up appointment with a primary care clinician is recommended regarding any results that fall outside the reference range.
For more information, visit
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