GREENEVILLE – Takoma Regional Hospital donated almost $40,000 in free blood work to visitors at the recent Iris Festival and will offer the community service again this weekend at the Mosheim Fun Fest.

Takoma Regional, located off Asheville Highway, handed out vouchers for free blood work at its booth at the Iris Festival, an annual Greeneville event held in mid-May.

“During the two weeks after the Iris Festival, we processed 786 blood samples from area residents at our lab,” said Edgardo Bermudez, Takoma Regional’s laboratory chief technologist. “Each group of tests costs us around $50 to process. That means our gift to the Greeneville community this year has a price tag of around $39,300.”

The blood work included a comprehensive metabolic panel and a lipid panel, among several other tests, Bermudez said. Takoma Regional will hand out vouchers for more free blood work at the Mosheim Fun Fest on Saturday, June 6.

“This is a tradition that speaks to the very heart of Takoma Regional,” said Carlyle Walton, the hospital’s president and CEO. “Our hospital’s mission statement says we exist to extend the healing ministry of Christ by caring for those who are ill and by nurturing the health of the people in our communities. And, we do.”