New York, NY - Sept. 6, 2018 - New York Blood Center (NYBC) will host 95 blood drives across the greater New York area during the week of September 11th to honor the victims of the tragic attacks. The blood drives will help the New York Blood Center prepare for potential emergencies and ensure hospitals and patients have access to the blood they need.
“In the face of unspeakable tragedy, New Yorkers came together to lend a hand and support each other,” said Andrea Cefarelli, Senior Executive Director of Donor Recruitment for New York Blood Center. “It is in that spirit that the New York Blood Center will be hosting close to 100 blood drives this year, commemorating the anniversary of September 11th by giving back to our communities.”
Many drives are being co-hosted by first responders and families of victims looking to give back to the community. In Sayville, the local fire department is hosting their annual blood drive in honor of Firefighter Wilbur Ritter, who served as the Sayville Fire Department Blood Drive Chairperson. Ritter passed away in the line of duty in 2006, just before his first annual September 11th memorial blood drive.
For a full list of all 95 blood drives being hosted by the New York Blood Center next week, click here.
It only takes one hour to donate, and a single donation can save multiple lives. Nearly 2,000 donations are needed each day in New York and New Jersey alone. Roughly one in seven hospital admissions require a blood transfusion, and supplies must be continually replenished.
In just 60 minutes, you can donate one pint of blood and Save a Life, Right Here, Right Now in your own community. About one in seven hospital admissions requires a blood transfusion, and with a limited shelf life, supplies must be continually replenished. Those in need include: cancer patients, accident, burn, or trauma victims, newborn babies and their mothers, transplant recipients, surgery patients, chronically transfused patients suffering from sickle cell disease or thalassemia, and many more.
Community members are encouraged to find time to donate blood at a NYBC donor center or convenient mobile blood drive, especially donors with O negative and B negative blood types. O negative blood donors are considered “universal,” and their blood type is needed most readily in trauma situations and emergency rooms across the country. B negative is a particularly rare blood type.
For more information on where to donate or how to set up your own drive, visit www.nybloodcenter.org/blood or call 1-800-933-2566.
About New York Blood Center
Founded in 1964, New York Blood Center (NYBC) is a nonprofit organization that is one of the largest independent, community-based blood centers in the world. NYBC, along with its partner organizations Community Blood Center of Kansas City, Missouri (CBC), Innovative Blood Resources (IBR), Blood Bank of Delmarva (BBD), and Rhode Island Blood Center (RIBC), collect approximately 4,000 units of blood products each day and serve local communities of more than 45 million people in the Tri-State area (NY, NJ, CT), Mid Atlantic area (PA, DE, MD), the Kansas City metropolitan area, Minnesota, Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Southern New England. NYBC and its partners also provide a wide array of transfusion-related medical services, including Comprehensive Cell Solutions, the National Center for Blood Group Genomics, the National Cord Blood Program, and the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, which — among other milestones — developed the Hepatitis B vaccine and a patented solvent detergent plasma process innovating blood-purification technology worldwide.