New York Blood Center Declares Blood Emergency

NEW YORK — A blood emergency was declared in New York by the New York Blood Center.

The organization made the announcement Wednesday. It’s the second emergency in the last 75 days and fifth of 2022.

An emergency occurs when there is a significant gap between the amount of blood donations and need from local hospitals.

The region’s blood supply is once again at a one- to three-day supply, according to a news release.

Despite new and innovative strategies to encourage the scheduling of more community blood drives, the gap between what hospitals and patients need and the available blood supply continues to grow. Sixty-two percent of the general public is able to donate and only about 4 percent of that population do.

Andrea Cefarelli, senior vice president of New York Blood Center, said that it isn’t that people aren’t donating blood. The organization’s data shows that there is only a small group of loyal donors who are representing the entire community and shouldering the burden for all.

“We need everyone, from Gen Z to Gen X, to step up,” she said. “Donating blood is a meaningful volunteer opportunity — we encourage people to bring their families, friends and partners to make it even more fun and impactful.”

NYBC hosts blood drives every day in addition to their 19 area donor centers in order to reach donors and meet local hospital needs.

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.

To make an appointment at a blood drive near you, donors can call 1-800-933-2566 or visit donate.nybc.org. Can’t donate blood? You can still support NYBC’s mission by texting ‘NYBC’ to ‘20222’ to give $25.