Find a Carter BloodCare Location near you HERE
Carter BloodCare is urging everyone to give blood to help save lives. The past 12 months have been brutal for the community blood supply. The yearlong pandemic and winter storms pushed the supply to historic and dangerous lows. Sheltering in place and social distancing has led to fewer blood drives and fewer donors giving at each one. The blood center can collect about half as many pints of blood at a drive because fewer donors are allowed on the bus or in the room where blood is being donated.
If you visit a donation center for Carter BloodCare, those facilities are limiting the number of people who can be there for donation at one time, too. The urgent need for blood doesn’t stop because of COVID-19 or the weather. Every day, patients’ lives depend on the availability of blood for transfusion. Dr. Merlyn Sayers, president and CEO of Carter BloodCare, said this critical shortage is affecting a wide range of patients in need of transfusions, from older adults being treated for malignancy and those needing transplants, to mothers experiencing complicated childbirths and children living with blood diseases that cause anemia. One in seven patients admitted to a hospital could require a blood transfusion. To keep up with demand, Carter BloodCare needs at least 1,000 donors every day.
Without volunteer donors, there is no way to obtain blood for patients requiring transfusion because it cannot be manufactured or created in a lab. Dr. Sayers said he has never seen such a long deficiency of the blood inventory that has put so many patients in jeopardy.
Your donation is vital in turning the tide against the pandemic’s devastating effects on our community blood supply.
How You Can Help?
Healthy people who are at least 17 years old – or 16 with parental consent – and weigh at least 110 pounds may donate whole blood every 56 days. In a recent survey, 62% of Americans were eligible to donate blood. However, less than 5% actually donated. This must change. People’s lives depend on us. The best way to help patients who need transfusions is by making an appointment today to give blood at Carter BloodCare. Visit carterbloodcare.org to find a donor center or community blood drive. Donors can also call or text 800-366-2834 to schedule an appointment.
Who is Carter BloodCare?
Carter BloodCare is the community nonprofit blood center that provides lifesaving transfusion resources to more than 180 medical facilities in more than 50 counties throughout the North, Central and East Texas regions. 90% of the blood provided to hospitals in North Texas comes from donors to Carter BloodCare. Carter BloodCare delivers more than 450,000 blood products annually to meet hospitals’ needs for their patients. The blood doesn’t belong to Carter BloodCare; the blood center is just the steward of the resources given by essential blood donors. Carter BloodCare is on a mission to save lives by making transfusion possible. Please help ensure that patients can receive the transfusions that are ordered by their doctors and surgeons.