Donation center/blood drive closures/cancellations result in 800+ missed donations
Vitalant (vye-TAL-ent), formerly Bonfils Blood Center, is asking everyone who is eligible to give blood in the coming days to help make up for 883 units of blood that could not be donated due to the blizzard that hit Colorado and surrounding areas. On Wednesday, weather conditions canceled or cut short operations at Colorado, Wyoming and Rapid City, South Dakota donation centers and impacted 16 blood drives. Thursday, weather conditions canceled an additional nine blood drives, closed the Rapid City donation center all day and the Cheyenne, Wyoming donation center for a second straight day. The anticipated donations that can’t be collected account for more than a quarter of the more than 3,000 donations needed each week in our region.
“Our mobile blood drive resources are booked out weeks in advance so rescheduling canceled blood drives at high schools and businesses takes time,” Vitalant Senior Director of Donor Recruitment Charlie Propernick said. “In the meantime, we’re asking donors as they are able to find their closest Vitalant donation center or another upcoming blood drive to help build up the supply to pre-blizzard levels.”
Vitalant operations in areas not impacted by severe weather are encouraging their communities to step up and help out in support of patient blood needs here and in other parts of the country.
In Colorado, Vitalant has eight donation centers open as many as seven days a week and mobile blood drives daily throughout the state. Learn more at vitalant.org.
About Vitalant
Vitalant is the nation’s second largest community blood service provider, supplying comprehensive transfusion medicine services for nearly 1,000 hospitals and health care partners for patients in need across 40 states. Vitalant inspires local communities to serve the needs of others and transform lives through the selfless act of donating blood. Every day, almost 5,000 blood donations are needed to meet the needs of people throughout the country, and Vitalant’s 780,000 donors supply 1.8 million donations a year. In addition to blood products, Vitalant offers customers transfusion services, medical consulting, quality guidance, ongoing education, research and more. For more information and to schedule a donation, visit vitalant.org or call 877-258-4825 (877-25-VITAL). Join the conversation about impacting the lives of others on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.