LIFELINE Blood Services has issued a statement about the need for more locations to host mobile blood drives across West Tennessee.
“Due to the pandemic, many educational and industrial locations that would normally host blood drives have not been able to have a mobile drive since early in 2020,” said Tonya Johnson, Director of Community Services. “This has caused a huge problem for the community blood supply.”
January is often a tough month for blood banks, as the need for blood increases as people head to hospitals for procedures that they have put off until after the holidays. Add in the impact of COVID-19, and the supply is at risk of being insufficient for the needs of West Tennessee’s hospitals and medical helicopter sites.
“As we near what we hope will be the end of this pandemic, we are asking local businesses and industries to please schedule a blood drive as soon as possible,” said Johnson.
Giving blood is safe. All precautions, such as masks for donors and staff, temperature checks, hand sanitizer, and questions related to COVID symptoms and exposure, are taken at each drive. Blood donations must increase for the safety of healthcare for our local patients.
LIFELINE provides blood services to 20 West Tennessee counties and 13 emergency helicopter service locations. Annually, the Center collects approximately 26,000 blood products (red cell units, platelets, plasma, etc.) to meet the needs of patients. Of that total, 75% of those products are collected on the bloodmobiles across West Tennessee. LIFELINE also provides reference lab and cross-matching services to healthcare facilities.
To learn more about scheduling a drive, please contact Tonya Johnson, Director of Community Services, at 731.427.4431 ex.103 or visit 183 Sterling Drive, Jackson, TN 38305.
