Blood Drive

Appointments are available from 7AM-3PM. Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments are honored first. Be sure to eat a meal beforehand and bring your drivers license or I.D. with you.

Location

About the Blood Drive

If you’ve been through the café at Singing River Gulfport in the last 20 years, chances are you have been met with the smiling face of Teresa Powell. Over her career at Singing River Gulfport (previously Garden Park) she has been a hostess, cashier, grill cook, and more. You will find her most days behind the scenes in the kitchen, cooking up a storm for hungry guests.

Teresa suffered a stroke in April 2019, which impacted the left side of her body, leaving her with limited strength and mobility. After six months recovering at home, she came back to work. After a second stroke in July 2020, Teresa went through treatment at the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Center where she worked her way from a wheelchair to a walker, to a cane and then to walking freely. In 2023, Teresa experienced a third stroke, this time affecting the right side of her body.

Over the past five years, she has received a variety of treatments and care from the staff at Singing River Health System including stent implants, rehabilitation, and regular appointments with her cardiologist and neurologist. While she doesn’t have the stability she used to, she says “God gave me the strength, so I keep going. I still get up. Every day.” It is a testament to her strength and determination to see her shine every day at work having overcome many struggles in just a few short years.

When not working, Teresa enjoys time with her family and the many foster dogs and cats she has rescued and cares for.