Stanford Blood Center is urgently asking for Bay Area residents to donate blood as supply runs low following Labor Day.
Partner hospitals who have used more blood than expected coupled with lower donation levels due to holiday travel and mobile drive cancellations have depleted SBC’s crucial blood supply, officials stated in a media release.
"During the past two weeks, nearly 650 patients, including more than 120 children, required over 2,300 units of blood products, more than 740 of which were O+ red blood cells," said Dr. Suchi Pandey, chief medical officer at SBC.
Donors are strongly encouraged to give in the coming days to republish the supply which is currently at an unsustainable level. All blood types are needed, especially O+ and O-.
"The pandemic has been a challenging time to collect blood, but it hasn’t slowed down the demand for blood products and currently, we have a number of open appointments," said SBC spokesperson Ross Coyle. "It’s the blood that we have readily available that allows us to save a life at a moment’s notice, so we’re urging the community to please consider donating this week."
Donation centers are available in Cambell, Menlo Park and Mountain View as well as a number of mobile blood drives open to the public this week in Palo Alto, San Jose and Sunnyvale.
Anyone who registers to donate during September will receive a coupon for a free regular-sized Jersey Mike’s sub sandwich.
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