Press release:
Hurricane Harvey and subsequent flooding in Texas is currently impacting the nation’s blood supply. The Blood Connection (TBC) is urging eligible donors to make a blood donation as soon as possible and keep any scheduled appointments. TBC is also encouraging local businesses and community organizations to help Texas residents by hosting a blood drive.
“We’re asking all potential donors, both current and first timers, to make a commitment to donate blood or platelets as soon as possible,” said Delisa English, President and CEO of The Blood Connection. “With dangerous flooding in Texas, we want to make every effort to meet the emergency needs of patients and ensure there’s a sufficient blood supply in storm affected areas. All blood donations are needed.”
English also encourages blood donors to give in the coming days and weeks to meet future needs in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. If blood donations are negatively impacted, the long term needs of patients could be affected.
To find a local blood drive, visit bloodconnection.
To host a blood drive, visit thebloodconnection.org/host.Donors can also donate blood at any one of TBC’s donation centers at 435 Woodruff Road, Greenville; 341 Old Abbeville Highway, Greenwood; 1954 East Main Street, Easley; 1308 Sandifer Boulevard, Seneca; 270 North Grove Medical Park Drive, Spartanburg; and 825 Spartanburg Highway, Hendersonville.
TBC’s mission is to ensure all hospital partners have the blood supplies needed for patients at any given time. Blood donors must be healthy, weigh at least 110 pounds, and be 17 years old or 16 with written parental consent. To ensure that hospital needs for blood are uninterrupted, TBC is requesting whole blood and platelet donations. All blood types are needed.
About The Blood Connection
Founded in 1979 in Greenville, SC, The Blood Connection (TBC) is the largest independently managed, non-profit community blood center in the region. It recruits donors and collects blood within an 8,390 square mile area of South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina. In South Carolina, TBC supports Greenville, Spartanburg, Union, Pickens, Oconee, Greenwood, McCormick, Laurens, and Newberry Counties. In Georgia, TBC supports Stephens County.
In 2011, The Blood Connection expanded into Western North Carolina to serve Polk, Buncombe, Transylvania, McDowell, Macon, Franklin and Henderson Counties. TBC has now expanded to serve North Carolina’s central Piedmont counties including Wake, Durham and Orange Counties.
Licensed and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, TBC collects blood from donors through bloodmobiles, portable field units, and fixed donation sites. It holds approximately twelve blood drives every day and collects over 120,000 units of blood, platelets and plasma each year to connect volunteer blood donors, hospitals, and patients needing life-saving transfusions. For more information, contact The Blood Connection or visit thebloodconnection.org.
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