Start of school year usually boosts donations, but offers no relief amid COVID-19
New York Blood Center encourages blood donors to schedule appointments at donor centers
NEW YORK — New York Blood Center is calling on the community to make appointments to visit donor centers as COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the process of donating blood. Before COVID-19, mobile blood drives hosted by high schools, colleges, businesses and other organizations made up about 75% of the region’s incoming blood supply, but the number of blood drives has dropped by two-thirds this year due to the pandemic.
The upcoming school year presents new and unprecedented challenges. Blood donations are typically lower during the summer and the return to school usually helps make up the difference and stabilize the blood supply. In the past, school and college drives have resulted in 75,000 blood donations during each school year.
“The pandemic is forcing us to rethink the entire landscape, which means encouraging donors to take the extra step of making an appointment and traveling to a donor center. The loss of young donors is a particular challenge because our future blood supply is dependent on these first-time donors becoming lifetime donors,” said Andrea H. Cefarelli, Senior Executive Director of Recruitment & Marketing for New York Blood Center. “We’ve always relied on the fall to provide a boost in blood donations from high school and college students hosting drives and this year we know this relief will not be coming.”
NYBC began hosting a limited number of drives again this summer, however they are far from the number of drives per month needed to support area hospitals. NYBC is encouraging eligible donors of all ages to adapt to this new normal by making appointments to visit a one of its 19 donors centers, which have expanded capacity and hours of operation in order safely accommodate more donors.
Blood from volunteer donors is needed every two seconds to help meet the daily transfusion needs of cancer and surgery patients, accident and burn victims, newborns and mothers delivering babies, AIDS and sickle cell anemia patients, and many more.
