Give Blood. Get a T-Shirt.

Bronx-- An emergency blood shortage has been declared by New York Blood Center (NYBC) due to dangerously low levels of types O negative, B negative, and A negative. Local residents are asked to donate on Wednesday, August 2 at NYC Health + Hospitals/ Jacobi Medical Center, 1400 Pelham Parkway South from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm in the first floor Atrium of Building 8.

Sponsored with NYBC, the drive at Jacobi Medical Center is scheduled to help avert a blood shortage. The summer months are when the blood supply typically takes a dip but the needs of local hospital patients remains steady. Jacobi blood donors will receive a NYBC t-shirt.

“Each blood donation helps to save up to three lives,” said Andrea Cefarelli, NYBC Executive Director for Donor Recruitment. “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 be eligible to give blood, donors must bring an NYBC donor card or ID with a photo or signature, weigh a minimum of 110 pounds, be between the ages of 16 and 75, and have had no tattoos in the past 12 months. You are encouraged to eat well and drink plenty of fluids before donating. Refreshments will be distributed. For more information, please call 1(800) 933-BLOOD (2566).

If you are not eligible to donate but would still like to participate, New York Blood Center encourages volunteering at a local blood drive.

Remember, you could be saving the lives of the people in your community with your donations or contributions.

To donate blood or platelets or for information on how to organize a blood drive
please call Toll Free: 1-800-933-2566
Visit: www.nybloodcenter.org

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.

About New York Blood Center

New York Blood Center (NYBC) is a nonprofit organization that is one of the largest independent, community-based blood centers in the country. Founded in 1964, NYBC, along with its partner organizations Community Blood Center of Greater Kansas City (CBC) and Innovative Blood Resources (IBR), based in St. Paul, Minnesota, collect approximately 3,300 units of blood products each day, serving local communities of more than 25 million people in New York, New Jersey, parts of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, the Kansas City metropolitan area, Minnesota, and Nebraska.

NYBC and its partners also provide a wide array of transfusion-related medical services, while NYBC’s National Cord Blood Program (NCBP) at the Howard P. Milstein Cord Blood Center is home to the world’s largest public cord blood bank. NYBC is also home to a renowned research institute, which — among other milestones — developed the Hepatitis B vaccine and innovative blood-purification technology.

Website: www.nybloodcenter.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/newyorkbloodcenter
Twitter: @NYBloodCenter
Instagram: @newyorkbloodcenter