Free Prostate Cancer Screenings For Males 40 and Older

June 19-25, 2011

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Any man 40 years old or older who registers to donate whole blood or platelets at any Community Blood Services� donor center or mobile blood drive this week through Saturday, June 25th can request a complimentary PSA assay test � a simple prostate cancer screening test that can help detect potential disease � at the time of his donation.

�Offering complimentary PSA testing during Father�s Day week is a way for us to say thank you to our donors and show our commitment to the health of our community members,� said Karen Ferriday, director of community affairs at Community Blood Services.

Donors who donate on Wednesday, June 22 or Wednesday, June 23 at the Paramus (NJ), Lincoln Park (NJ) or New Windsor (NY) donor centers will also get a free one pound bag of Dunkin� Donuts coffee.

Donors can click here to make an appointment to donate or call toll free 866-228-1500. Whole blood donors can also walk-in but an appointment is needed to donate platelets at one of the New Jersey centers.

Ferriday said Community Blood Services needs continuous blood and platelet donations if it is going to keep enough blood on its shelves to help patients at the25 hospitals it serves in northern New Jersey and southern New York State. Community Blood Services currently needs all blood types, particularly Type O negative, along with plasma from AB male donors to treat burn and trauma victims and platelet donations to treat cancer patients.

In New Jersey, donors can donate at the Paramus Donor Center, 970 Linwood Avenue West, Tuesday or Thursday, June 21 or 23, 12 noon to 7:30 p.m.; Wednesday or Friday, June 22 or 24, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; or Saturday, June 25, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

New Jersey donors also can donate at the Lincoln Park center, 63 Beaverbrook Road, Suite 304, on Tuesday or Wednesday, June 21 or 22, 1 to 6:30 p.m., or on Saturday, June 25, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

In New York, donors can donate at the New Windsor center, 575 Hudson Valley Ave., Suite 206, on Tuesday, June 21, 1 to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, June 22, 4 to 6:30 p.m.; or Saturday, June 25, 8 a.m. to noon.

Donors also can call for a listing of convenient blood drives held on bloodmobiles in their area.

PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) is a natural protein produced by normal prostate glands in healthy men. The test measures PSA levels in the blood. An elevated PSA blood level may be a warning sign in men for prostate cancer, other urinary tract diseases or conditions such as benign enlargement of the prostate gland.

Donors will receive a letter with their PSA test results in the mail. Men with elevated PSA levels can then have their primary care physicians review those results.