Free Prostate Cancer Screenings
For Males 40 and Older

Sept. 12-17, 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 from Monday, Sept. 12th through Saturday, Sept. 17th 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 Prostate Cancer Awareness Month is one 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.

The free health screening is being offered to donors who donate at the Paramus or Lincoln Park donor centers in New Jersey, or at the New Windsor donor center in New York, as well as at all other donation sites and blood drives in both states.

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 centers which collect platelet donations.

Ferriday said Community Blood Services needs continuous blood and platelet donations to ensure there is enough blood on its shelves to help patients at the 25 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, Monday, Wednesday or Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday or Thursday, 12 noon to 7:30 p.m.; or Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Or they can donate at the Lincoln Park center, 63 Beaverbrook Road, Suite 304, on Tuesday or Wednesday, 1 to 6:30 p.m., or on Saturday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. They can also donate on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the bloodmobile at 300 Park Place at the Mill Creek Mall.

In New York, donors can donate at the New Windsor center, 575 Hudson Valley Ave., Suite 206, on Tuesday, 1 to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, 4 to 6:30 p.m.; or Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon. Or they can donate on a bloodmobile at the Warwick Valley Middle School, 225 West Street, on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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. In 2010 more than 218,000 men we diagnosed with prostate cancer in the U.S. and more than 32,000 died from the disease.

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. All donors will also receive a complimentary mini-physical, including non-fasting cholesterol and glucose screenings and blood pressure.

Community Blood Services is a not-for-profit organization that provides blood and blood products to 25 hospitals in New York and New Jersey.