Bloodworks Northwest

Blood donations are in critical need; help by donating at the fair on July 23

Donate at the Division/Clinton Street Fair to help offset a forecasted shortage in the blood supply

 

Bloodworks Northwest invites the community to participate in a blood drive at the Division/Clinton Street Fair on Saturday, July 23 – an especially important time to donate blood.

 

Each summer, the local blood supply experiences a dramatic drop, limiting what’s available for people who need blood transfusions at hospitals and medical facilities.

 

“The summer months are a critical time for us,” said Andrea Chiller, Bloodworks regional director of donor services in Oregon and Southwest Washington. “Collections go down by as much as 20 percent in the summer, and we need to collect from 900 donors each day to maintain a sufficient supply for the hospitals we serve.”

 

The drop in collections typically occurs from late May through early September, when schools are on breaks and many regular donors are busy with vacations and other seasonal activities. At the same time, the need for donated blood typically rises in the summer months, particularly during high-travel weekends around holidays, when traumatic injuries are more common.

 

“We really need the public’s help,” Chiller said. “Please donate blood at this blood drive or another at least once this summer. If you donate soon, you’ll be able to donate twice over the summer season, providing two times the help.”

 

While the Red Cross is historically the name that comes to mind when Oregonians think about blood donation, it’s actually Bloodworks that supplies blood to a majority of Portland-area hospitals. That includes 36,000 pints of blood used at Providence and Legacy facilities in Oregon each year.

 

And while Bloodworks’ blood stays mainly in the Pacific Northwest, blood donated to the Red Cross might go other places in that organization’s national network. As a community-based nonprofit, Bloodworks only collects blood in the areas where it already supports patients and hospitals.

 

At the Division/Clinton Street Fair on July 23, the Bloodworks blood mobile will be open for donations from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4 p.m.

 

Walk-ins are welcome. To register to donate in advance, please visit https://www.psbc.org/programs/drive.asp?URL=5387 or call 1-800-398-7888.

 

About Bloodworks Northwest: Formerly Puget Sound Blood Center, Bloodworks is backed by more than 70 years of Northwest history and 250,000 donors. A national leader in transfusion medicine, Bloodworks has been chosen to serve more than 90 hospitals in Washington, Oregon and Alaska – partnering closely with local hospitals to deliver the highest level of patient care. Patients with traumatic injuries, undergoing surgeries or organ transplantation, or receiving treatment for cancer and blood disorders all depend on Bloodworks’ services, expertise, laboratories and research. For more information, visit http://www.bloodworksnw.org.

Bloodworks Northwest

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