Asheville Outlets to host blood drive April 22-23

Press release from Asheville Outlets:

Asheville Outlets will host a blood donation drive in partnership with the American Red Cross on Wednesday, April 22 and Thursday, April 23, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day inside the Food Court.

Donors are asked to register in advance by visiting RedCrossBlood.org/give and entering the sponsor code Ashevilleoutlets. The American Red Cross will establish additional safety guidelines to ensure all donors are socially distanced.

“In these challenging times, Asheville Outlets is pleased to host this vital blood donation drive,” says Carla De Maria, Marketing Director of Asheville Outlets. “The need for blood donations is greater than ever and the American Red Cross provides a safe, convenient way to donate and help our fellow neighbor,” she adds.

General Safety

It is safe to donate blood. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that the coronavirus (COVID-19) does not pose any known risk to blood donors during the donation process or from attending blood drives.

Red Cross Donation Safety Protocols

The top priority of the Red Cross is the safety of our donors, volunteers, employees and blood recipients, and we are committed to transparency with the American public during this evolving public health emergency. There are no data or evidence that this coronavirus can be transmissible by blood transfusion, and there have been no reported cases worldwide of transmissions for any respiratory virus including this coronavirus.

Donating blood products is essential to community health and eligible donors are strongly urged to donate blood, platelets, or AB Elite plasma.The Red Cross only collects blood from individuals who are healthy and feeling well at the time of donation – and who meet other eligibility requirements.

At each blood drive or donation center, Red Cross employees follow thorough safety protocols, including:      

• Wearing gloves and changing them often.
• Wiping down donor-touched areas after every collection.
• Using sterile collection sets for every donation.
• Preparing the arm for donation with aseptic scrub.
• Conducting donor mini physicals to ensure donors are healthy and well on day of donation. 

We have also increased our vigilance concerning some of these safety protocols including: 

• Enhanced disinfecting of surfaces and equipment.  
• Providing hand sanitizer for use before entering and throughout the donation appointment. 
• Temperature checks before presenting donors enter the blood drive or donation center. 
• Following social distancing practices between donors including donor beds, as well as waiting and refreshment areas.
• During this time, blankets typically used by platelet, Power Red and AB Elite donors at Red Cross blood donation centers will be laundered after each use, which may limit the availability. Donors are encouraged to bring their own blankets, but electric blankets and heating pads are not permitted.
• Staff wearing basic face masks.

To ensure our staff are healthy each day, we have implemented standard staff health assessments prior to all blood drives. Finally, only eligible and healthy people can give blood. These mitigation measures will help ensure blood recipient safety, as well as staff and donor safety in reducing contact with those who may potentially have this respiratory infection.