The winning team in the Battle of the Badges. From left are Mike Woolf, Josh Atchison and Jose Perez. One of the organizers is Shannon Perez, right.
Fallon’s Police Department took the win in the fifth annual Battle of the Badges competition with the Sherriff’s Office and received a trophy last week from Vitalant.
While the competition drew good-natured bantering between the two groups, the true winners are patients who rely on blood transfusions as part of medical care.
It was a tight race with a total of 114 lifesaving blood units collected with the potential to impact over 280 lives. The Police Department came out ahead with 10 more donors than the Sherriff’s Office. Each donation type can help more than one patient. Donors gave whole blood and a newer type of donation called a Power Red donation which allows donors to give two donations of red blood cells at one time on special equipment.
Law enforcement agencies have a unique knowledge about the need for blood seen in their daily work which can include responding to multiple-injury motor vehicle and recreational accidents, emergency situations or violent incidents involving firearms. Their dedication to our communities is deeply appreciated.
Courtesy
Scott Edward, senior donor recruitment manager (Vitalant) presents the Battle of the Badges trophy to Fallon Police officers, from left, Mike Woolf, Josh Atchison and Jose Perez.
Shannon Perez organizes the two-day blood drive with Ladies Behind the Badge who are the driving force behind this blood drive and other community service projects. Shannon leads a team who engage with community members to support important initiatives, such as need for a safe and available blood supply. This was the largest drive to date of all the previous Fallon Battle of the Badges competitions which have contributed a total of 380 blood donations to the blood supply.
