Help Save Lives in Your Community During National Blood Donor Month!

January 2014

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Community Blood Services extends a sincere thank you to its many blood, plasma and platelet donors for their ongoing lifesaving donations during 2013 and invites those donors who are eligible this January to help celebrate National Blood Donor Month by making their next donation.

�We want to thank our volunteer donors during National Blood Donor Month for their ongoing donations and remind them how important they are to the patients whose lives they help to save in our community hospitals,� said Karen Ferriday, director of community affairs at Community Blood Services.

�Each week in January, Community Blood Services will choose a volunteer donor to highlight on its website and social media pages,� Ferriday said. Click here to nominate a donor; photos also accepted.

Ferriday said there is a critical need for Type O negative blood and platelets to rebuild the supply following the holiday season when the supply traditionally dips.

�It�s important that we continue to build our supply in case illness and inclement weather during the winter months keeps donors away or result in canceled blood drives,� Ferriday said. As the new year begins, she asked that donors consider donating blood regularly in 2014, noting more than 44,000 blood donations are needed daily throughout the U.S.

Donors can click here or call 201-251-3703 to schedule their next donation or find a mobile blood drive in their area, or click here to find a donor collection site nearby. Whole blood donors also can walk in to any donor center but appointments are needed to donate platelets.

All blood types are needed to meet the needs of patients in the more than 18 hospitals Community Blood Services serves in New Jersey and New York, especially O negative. O negative, the universal blood type, can be transfused to all patients. Platelets are also needed to treat patients diagnosed with cancer or other blood disorders and AB male plasma is needed for trauma victims.

Donors must be 17-75 years old (16 years old with parental consent) and weigh at least 110 pounds. All donors will receive health screenings with their donations, including non-fasting glucose and cholesterol screenings.