Release Archives

Contact: Leslie Gonzalez
lgonzalez2@nybloodcenter.org
(212) 570-3304 Office
(646) 342-3038 Mobile

Our Communities' Blood Supply
Faces Summer Challenges

New York, NY June 8, 2009 -- New York Blood Center (NYBC) and its divisions in Manhattan, Long Island, Hudson Valley, Brooklyn / Staten Island, and New Jersey are facing three big challenges this season to maintain an adequate and safe blood supply for hospital patients, including:

Number One: Concerns About H1N1 (Swine Flu)
Some high school blood drives were canceled, and several schools were temporarily closed. The canceled drives have meant the loss of at least several hundred potential donations.
Blood drives that have proceeded have resulted in double digit percentage decreases in donations versus the same period last year. NYBC has communicated with its volunteer chairpersons, encouraging healthy people to continue to seek out blood drives.

Number Two: The Economy
The recession has meant the closing of workplaces, and that has resulted in the loss or reduction of some corporate, non-profit, and government blood drives. Group-sponsored blood drives account for 80% of NYBC's collections.

Number Three: Here Comes Vacation Season!
Schools close for the summer, and workers go on vacation. There are fewer people available to donate blood.

Our Call to Action: Organize a 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 the summer. Blood donors receive free mini-medical exams on site including information about their temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure and hemoglobin level. Eligible donors include those people at least age 16, 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.

To schedule your very own blood drive please contact:

If you cannot donate but still wish to participate in bringing lifesaving products to those in need, please consider volunteering at a local blood drive.

To donate blood, please call:
Toll Free: 1-800-933-2566
Visit: www.nybloodcenter.org

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 the summer. Blood donors receive free mini-medical exams on site including information about their temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure and hemoglobin level. Eligible donors include those people at least age 16, 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.

About New York Blood Center:
New York Blood Center (NYBC) is one of the nation's largest non-profit, community-based blood centers. NYBC has been providing blood, transfusion products and services to patients in greater New York since 1964. NYBC is also home to the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute and the National Cord Blood Program at the Howard P. Milstein National Cord Blood Center, the world's largest public cord blood bank. NYBC provides medical services and programs (Clinical, Transfusion, and Hemophilia Services) through our medical professionals and transfusion medicine physicians.

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