The New York Blood Center (NYBC) informed its employees today that the organization’s blood supply “has dropped to dangerously low levels as the need for blood has rebounded to pre-COVID-19 levels.”
NYBC asked GNYHA to inform our members of the urgent need for blood donors.
Here is the full memo that NYBC sent to its employees:
New York Blood Center Enterprises (NYBCe) is calling on all employees who are healthy to help replenish the blood supply which has dropped to dangerously low levels as the need for blood has rebounded to pre-COVID-19 levels. In order to maintain a safe blood supply, a seven-day inventory of all blood types must be continually replenished, but reserves are currently far below that minimum.
Before COVID-19, mobile blood drives hosted by schools, organizations, and businesses made up about 75% of the region’s incoming blood supply, but all drives had to be cancelled during the past several months. NYBC will begin holding a limited number of mobile blood drives each week, but they are far from the 600 drives per month that would be required to meet the need at area hospitals. Employees are encouraged to schedule an appointment at these mobile drives or one of our 19 donor centers across New York and New Jersey.
As always, people are not eligible to donate if they are experiencing a cold, sore throat, respiratory infection or flu-like symptoms. Additional information on donor eligibility and COVID-19 precautions is available here.
To schedule your appointment, please call 1-800-933-2566 or visit donate.nybc.org.
You can learn more about donating blood at NYBC’s website.