Blood Drive At Ocean County Mall Offer Mets Tickets To Donors

TOMS RIVER, NJ — There is a blood drive being held in Toms River this week in response to an emergency blood shortage.

The New York Blood Center, a nonprofit that provides blood products and services to nearly 200 hospitals in New York, New Jersey, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and parts of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, announced there is an emergency due to critically low levels of blood supplies.

The Toms River blood drive is scheduled for Friday, July 21, at the Ocean County Mall in the JCPenney wing. It will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and every donor will receive a voucher to redeem for two free New York Mets tickets as a thank you, the center said.

You can make an appointment to donate by calling 1-800-933-BLOOD and walk-in donors are welcome.

According to the New York Blood Center, thousands of men, women, and children need donated blood products each day, and this need could not be met without the dedication of volunteer blood donors. Current processing techniques allow a single blood donation, when separated into components, to help save at least three lives.

Blood donations help treat cancer patients, traumatic accident and burn victims, newborn babies and mothers delivering babies, patients undergoing surgery, and many more. On average, hip replacement surgery typically uses one unit of blood, while a cardiac bypass patient may use two units, and a liver transplant can require some six units.

Plasma contains vital proteins, nutrients, and clotting factors that help prevent and stop bleeding. Donated plasma aids patients with blood diseases as well as those with low platelet count or non-functioning platelets at high risk of bleeding, such as chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant patients.

Platelet donations play an essential role in ensuring a patient’s blood can clot when needed. Platelets also contain growth factors that help repair damaged body tissue.

Image via Shutterstock