Volunteer Blood & Platelet Donors Needed!
Boost the Supply, Get a Shop Rite Gift Card

May 23 & 24, 2014

�

Community Blood Services urges donors to make a lifesaving blood, platelet or plasma donation at one of its donation sites in New Jersey this Memorial Day weekend to ensure there is lifesaving blood on the shelves for the seriously ill or injured patients who need it.

Volunteer donors will get a complimentary Shop Rite gift card for taking time out of their busy holiday schedules to donate on Friday, May 23 or Saturday, May 24. The center is closed on Monday, May 26.

Donors can click here or call 201-251-3703 for hours or to make an appointment on Friday or Saturday at the Paramus Donor Center (1 West Ridgewood Avenue, Suite 208, Bergen Medical Center); on Friday at the Montvale donor room (102 Chestnut Ridge Road); or on Saturday at Lincoln Park (63 Beaverbrook Road, Suite 304). Donors also can click here to schedule online. Walk-ins are also welcome but appointments are needed to donate platelets.

If donors donate on Tuesday or Wednesday, May 27 or 28, at the Paramus, Montvale or Lincoln Park donor rooms they will receive a coupon for a complimentary appetizer with the purchase of an entr�e at Longhorn Steakhouse.

Whole blood donors must be healthy, 17-75 years of age (16 years old with parental consent) and weigh at least 110 pounds

Donations traditionally begin dropping starting Memorial Day weekend, and continue to drop throughout the summer months, according to Karen Ferriday, director of community affairs at Community Blood Services. That�s because high school blood drives, which provide about 10% of the blood supply, begin to wind down for the summer and participation at corporate blood drives starts declining because employees are on vacation, she explained.

In addition, individual volunteer donors also don�t donate as frequently during the summer because of their busy holiday and vacation schedules, Ferriday said, noting a decrease in donors can seriously impact the blood supply. She said all blood types and products are needed, particularly Type O negative, the universal blood type that can be used by any patient, as well as platelet donors to treat patients with cancer and other blood disorders.

Ferriday also reminded donors that May is Blood Pressure Awareness Month. Each time they donate, she said, donors get a mini physical providing valuable health screenings, including a blood pressure check that can result in early detection of possible disease.

Community Blood Services is a not-for-profit organization that provides blood and blood products to more than 18 hospitals in New Jersey and New York, including Hackensack University Medical Center, St. Joseph�s Healthcare System in Paterson/Wayne and The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood. Click here to see all of the hospitals served by Community Blood Services.