WINTER MONTHS FREEZE BLOOD DONATIONS ON DELMARVA
Colds, flu season and inclement weather impact blood supply
Newark, DE- The winter season becomes a perfect storm for Blood Bank of Delmarva: more people get sick and cannot donate; bad weather hinders people from driving to blood donation sites; and many donors go away on winter vacations.
Blood Bank of Delmarva needs 370 donors every day to provide enough blood for local hospital patients. It can be a serious challenge to meet that number during the winter months.
"Now is the time when illness is most prevalent," said Carrie Aiken, spokesperson for Blood Bank of Delmarva. "During cold and flu season, many potential blood donors are deferred from donating until they are healthy. This can really take a toll on the local blood supply."
BBD celebrates National Blood Donor Month
To draw attention to this ongoing problem, Blood Bank of Delmarva is joining blood centers across the country in observing National Blood Donor Month in January. Since 1970, National Blood Donor Month has recognized the efforts of regular blood donors and encouraged others to give the gift of life for the first time- especially for those who aren't able to during the challenging winter months.
"January is a time of good intentions, a time when people evaluate what they want from the coming year," said Dave Bonk, Blood Bank director of PR and Marketing. "People make all kinds of New Year resolutions- to lose weight, quit smoking, pay off debt- but what better resolution is there than to commit to saving lives?"
10th Annual Beach Blanket Blood Drive helps winter blood supply
To help boost the blood supply this winter, Blood Bank of Delmarva is hosting the 10th annual Beach Blanket Blood Drive at the Ocean City (MD) Convention Center on January 29 and 30. During the past nine years, this 2-day event has collected more than 2,500 units of blood.
Donate blood in Wilmington- Receive a special gift
To address a decrease in blood donations at the downtown Wilmington Center at 913 North Market Street, Blood Bank of Delmarva kicked off a major public awareness campaign.
For every day the Wilmington Center is open, Tuesday through Friday until January 31, 2008, blood donors will receive a special gift as follows:
- T-shirt Tuesday- limited edition t-shirt
- Warm-up Wednesday- fleece blanket
- Travel-mug Thursday- commemorative mug
- Forget-your-lunch Friday- packed lunch by Bean Bag Cafe
The Wilmington Center first opened in 1984. At that time, the center consistently had about 8,000 blood donors a year. Now, the Blood Bank is only able to schedule about 3,000 donors a year. Blood Bank of Delmarva has four permanent donor centers (Wilmington, Newark and Dover, DE and Salisbury, MD) and 27 locations throughout Delmarva visited by the Bloodmobile.
