Nonprofit blood services provider Vitalant has a blood emergency after its blood supply fell nearly 50% from the beginning of the summer, and urges all eligible donors to make an appointment to donate and help replenish the blood supply.
All blood types are needed, especially the most commonly transfused type O. Emergency room personnel reach for O-negative when there is not time to determine a patient’s blood type, and O-positive can help anyone with Rh-positive blood.
Also, because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Vitalant urges eligible donors to band together to provide hope and healing to patients fighting cancer by giving blood or platelets.
Cancer patients undergoing surgery and chemotherapy may require red blood cell or platelet transfusions. Patients fighting cancer need more blood than those with any other disease, using nearly one-quarter of the nation’s blood supply.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently updated its donor eligibility guidance, including with regards to donors previously ineligible to give due to European travel and risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), also known as mad cow disease.
To review current eligibility guidelines and make an appointment to give, visit vitalant.orgdownload and use the Vitalant app, or call 877-258-4825.
All donors who use the Vitalant app in September to make their next appointment will be automatically entered to win one of five, $500 prepaid gift cards. Learn more at https://vitalant.org/app.
Upcoming blood drives in the Santa Barbara area:
Thursday, Oct. 6, Deckers Outdoor, 6601 Hollister Ave., Goleta, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 13, Buellton Medical Center, 195 W. Highway 246, Buellton, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 14, Carpinteria Rotary Foundation, 1335 Vallecito Place, Carpinteria, 3-7 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 18, Camino Real Center, 7046 Marketplace Drive, Goleta, 1:30-6 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 25, Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State St., Santa Barbara, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 30, Our Lady of Sorrows, 1419 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara, 10 a.m.- 2:15 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 30, Los Alamos Valley Men’s Club, 429 Leslie St., Los Alamos, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Donors can also give at the Santa Barbara donation center, 4213 State St.
Vitalant is the nation’s largest independent, nonprofit blood services provider, focused on providing lifesaving blood and comprehensive transfusion medicine services for about 900 hospitals across the U.S. Every day, Vitalant needs to collect nearly 5,000 blood, platelet and plasma donations to help save lives.