MADISON – New Jersey Blood Services would like to announce that it is conducting blood drives at Madison Area YMCA, 111 Kings Road, Madison on Friday, January 25 from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Open to the public.
New Jersey Blood Services, a division of New York Blood Center (NYBC) is asking for help to maintain an adequate supply of all blood types, but especially O-negative – the “universal” blood which can be transfused into anyone in an emergency. In addition, hundreds of additional blood drives need to be scheduled to meet projected hospital demand. Current inventory of several blood types is running below the desired target level.
“It’s simple: hospital patient demand for blood often outpaces our best efforts to recruit donors and schedule blood drives,” said NYBC Executive Director of Donor Recruitment Andrea Cefarelli. “There are always reasons but we have to overcome that for the sake of hospital patients who need us.”
“This is one of the toughest times of the year,” Cefarelli added. “We’re asking for our dedicated supporters to roll up their sleeves to make sure we’re able to provide our hospital partners with whatever they need to take care of their patients.”
Blood products have a short shelf life – from five to 42 days, so constant replenishment is necessary. Each and every day there are patients who depend on the transfusion of red blood cells, platelets and plasma to stay alive. But blood and blood products can’t be manufactured. They can only come from volunteer blood donors who take an hour to attend a blood drive or visit a donor center.
To donate blood or for information on how to organize a blood drive call Toll Free: 1-800-933-2566 or Click here for website.
If you cannot donate but still wish to participate in bringing crucial blood products to patients in need, please ask someone to donate for you, or consider volunteering at a local blood drive.
Any company, community organization, place of worship, or individual may host a blood drive. NYBC also offers special community service scholarships for students who organize community blood drives during summer months. Blood donors receive free mini-medical exams on site including information about their temperature, blood pressure and hematocrit level. Eligible donors include those people at least age 16 (with parental permission or consent), who weigh a minimum of 110 pounds, are in good health and meet all Food & Drug Administration and NY or NJ State Department of Health donor criteria. People over 75 may donate with a doctor’s note.
Founded in 1964, the New York Blood Center Network (NYBC) is a nonprofit organization that is one of the largest independent, community-based blood centers in the world. NYBC, along with its partner organizations Community Blood Center of Kansas City, Missouri (CBC), Innovative Blood Resources (IBR), Blood Bank of Delmarva (BBD), and Rhode Island Blood Center (RIBC), collect approximately 4,000 units of blood products each day and serve local communities of more than 45 million people in the Tri-State area (NY, NJ, CT), Mid Atlantic area (PA, DE, MD), the Kansas City metropolitan area, Minnesota, Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Southern New England. NYBC and its partners also provide a wide array of transfusion-related medical services, including Comprehensive Cell Solutions, the National Center for Blood Group Genomics, the National Cord Blood Program, and the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, which—among other milestones—developed the Hepatitis B vaccine and a patented solvent detergent plasma process innovating blood-purification technology worldwide.
