This Blood Drive Comes at an Important Time as There Is an Urgent Need for Donations
NEW YORK – In collaboration with New York Blood Center (NYBC), the MTA Metro-North Railroad is hosting its 10th annual blood drive on Friday, December 3rd from 9am-6pm in Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal. To date, the organization’s blood drives have resulted in 2,271 donations, helping to save the lives of approximately 6,813 area patients. The MTA invites its employees, commuters, and the public at large to give the gift of life this holiday season and donate blood. In order to participate, all donors must wear a mask and show proof of vaccination. All presenting donors will receive by email a $10 e-gift card as a thank you for their support.
Before COVID-19, mobile blood drives hosted by high schools, colleges, businesses and other organizations made up about 75% of the region’s incoming blood supply, but the number of blood drives has dropped by two-thirds this year due to the pandemic. Hospital needs are well above pre-pandemic levels while donations continue to lag behind and never reach the ideal level of 5-7 days. New York Blood Center is in need of all blood types and encourages first time donors to sign up to make an appointment.
To make an appointment at the blood drive, please sign up here.
WHERE: Grand Central Terminal-Vanderbilt Hall, 87 East 42 Street, NY, NY, 10017
WHEN: Friday, December 3rd from 9am-6pm
WHO: Blood Donors, Volunteers, and New York Blood Center representatives
WHY: It only takes one hour to donate, and a single donation can save multiple lives. Roughly one in seven hospital admissions require a blood transfusion. Those in need include: cancer patients, accident, burn, or trauma victims, newborn babies and their mothers, transplant recipients, surgery patients, chronically transfused patients suffering from sickle cell disease or thalassemia, and many more.
We are taking extra precautions to help prevent the person-to-person spread of COVID-19. As always, people are not eligible to donate if they’re experiencing a cold, sore throat, respiratory infection or flu-like symptoms. Additional information on donor eligibility and COVID-19 precautions is available here.
About New York Blood Center: Founded in 1964, New York Blood Center (NYBC) is a nonprofit organization that is one of the largest independent, community-based blood centers in the world. NYBC, along with its operating divisions Community Blood Center of Kansas City, Missouri (CBC), Innovative Blood Resources (IBR), Blood Bank of Delmarva (BBD), and Rhode Island Blood Center (RIBC), collect approximately 4,000 units of blood products each day and serve local communities of more than 75 million people in the Tri-State area (NY, NJ, CT), Mid Atlantic area (PA, DE, MD, VA), Missouri and Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Southern New England. NYBC and its operating divisions also provide a wide array of transfusion-related medical services to over 500 hospitals nationally, including Comprehensive Cell Solutions, the National Center for Blood Group Genomics, the National Cord Blood Program, and the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, which — among other milestones — developed a practical screening method for hepatitis B as well as a safe, effective and affordable vaccine, and a patented solvent detergent plasma process innovating blood-purification technology worldwide.
Contact: Amanda Diamond
amanda@risaheller.com, (561) 504-6659