Responses to coronavirus outbreak severely impacting U.S. blood supply. Vitalant holding six donation events in April
MONTVALE, NJ (March 26, 2020) – There’s an urgent and immediate need for blood donations throughout central New Jersey, as responses to the nationwide coronavirus outbreak are severely impacting the U.S. blood supply.
Vitalant (a nonprofit, blood collection organization formerly known as Community Blood Services) is responding by offering residents of central New Jersey six local, open-to-the-public donation events during April to ensure that patients have the lifesaving blood they need. The greatest need is for blood platelets — small cells in the blood that form clots to prevent bleeding, while also helping with anemia and low blood counts – and type O-negative, the universal blood type.
FEMA has specifically identified blood donation as an “essential and integral component of the emergency support function.” Of note, coronavirus cannot be transferred through the blood. And, as always, the blood collection process is safe with no impact on the donor’s immune system. Vitalant staff follows rigorous safety and disinfection protocols at its blood drives and donation centers and have always required individuals to be in good health to donate blood.
Below are the six donation events in Central Jersey in April:
Elizabeth Housing Authority
688 Maple Avenue
Elizabeth NJ, 07202
April 14, 2020, 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
Bound Brook High School
111 West Union Avenue
Bound Brook, NJ 08805
April 15, 2020, 2:30 p.m.-8 p.m.
St. Matthew’s Church
81 Seymour Avenue
Edison, NJ 08817
April 19, 2020, 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Sayreville Free Public Library
1050 Washington Road
Parlin, NJ 08859
April 20, 2020, 1:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
K of C St. James, Jamesburg
83 E. Lincoln Avenue
Monroe Twp, NJ 08831
April 24, 2020, 3:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
Forked River Community – Heart to Hut
Taco Bell 238 N Main Street
Forked River, NJ 08731
April 25, 2020, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
For more information on the need for blood donation during the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), click here.
As an added incentive to all who donate from Friday, April 10 through Monday, April 13, Vitalant is providing – at its mobile blood drives and New Jersey donation centers in Lincoln Park, Montvale, Paramus, and Parsippany – a $10 dollar Amazon gift card and an aluminum sports bottle. In addition, type A+ and B+ donors who donate platelets for the first time EVER will receive a $25 Amazon gift card in the mail, while all type AB male plasma donors will receive a $5 mystery gift card in the mail for every plasma donation they make during 2020 (counting is done at the end of each month).
Healthy individuals age 16 or older, who weigh at least 110 pounds, may donate blood; 16- and 17-year-olds must have proof of birth date and signed consent forms, either in English (http://www.communitybloodservices.org/media/Minor_Donor_Permit_ENG.pdf) or Spanish (http://www.communitybloodservices.org/media/Minor_Donor_Permit_Form_SP.pdf). Donors should eat a moderate meal prior to donating, and also bring identification featuring their signature.
On occasion, last-minute changes to scheduling for a donation event will occur. As a result, it is recommended that anyone planning to donate blood at a Vitalant donation event call 201-251-3703, toll free, to confirm timing and location details. Additional information about donating blood is also available by visiting www.vitalant.org.
About Vitalant in New Jersey
A not-for-profit organization that supplies blood and blood products to hospitals in the NJ/NY region, Bergen County-based Vitalant (previously Community Blood Services) has been devoted to serving the community’s transfusion medicine needs since 1953. Donations of blood and blood products, umbilical cord blood, stem cells, and bone marrow help to join individuals, organizations, businesses, and entire communities together in partnership to help save lives.
