The Rhode Island Blood Center is pleading with the public as the blood shortage continues with a three-day blood supply. The long-term impact of the pandemic has resulted in a year of significantly less youth first-time donors and 70% fewer blood drives. Complicating matters, recently there has been a surge in blood usage as hospitals perform surgeries and patients seek medical care that was postponed during the pandemic. The increased need and lag in donors has created a chronic gap in blood donations.
“As the Northeast reopens, blood usage at hospitals continues to increase and is far outpacing our collections,” said Beau Tompkins, Senior Executive Director of the Rhode Island Blood Center. “On World Donor Day, we are asking the public to please donate blood and help save a life, donating is easy and can have a huge impact.”
Donating blood is safe and it only takes about one hour. We are taking extra precautions to help prevent the person-to-person spread of COVID-19. As always, people are not eligible to donate if they’re experiencing a cold, sore throat, respiratory infection or flu-like symptoms. Additional information on donor eligibility and COVID-19 precautions is available here.
Donors can schedule appointments by calling 401-453-8383 or visiting www.ribc.org.
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