Image courtesy of LIFELINE Blood Services
LIFELINE Blood Services announced Tuesday that West Tennessee’s blood supply is at a critically low level and that all blood types are needed.
“West TN patients rely on your donations for their care, and we experienced a high usage during the holiday weekend. We need those donations now more than ever. We cannot manufacture blood products, so please consider donating TODAY!” said Melinda Reid, Marketing Manager with LIFELINE Blood Services.
The shortage is caused by several issues and is a problem nationwide, which hinders LIFELINE’s ability to import blood from other blood centers. From an individual perspective, many donors have fallen out of the habit of giving. Holiday schedules can interfere with donors’ schedules as well.
“This is a critical shortage, and we need everyone to donate at either our Jackson or Dyersburg Center or on one of our bloodmobiles in order to save lives. You never know when you will be the one on the receiving end in the hospital needing blood,” said Reid.
LIFELINE Blood Services, located at 183 Sterling Farms Drive, is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome. The Dyersburg Center is located at 1130 HWY 51 Bypass, Suite 19 & 20, and is open Saturday 8 a.m. – 4 p.m., Sunday through Tuesday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
The rest of this week’s Community Mobile Blood Drives are listed below:
- Wednesday, Nov. 30 Bethel Springs Elementary School – 12 pm to 5 pm
- Thursday, Dec. 1 Paris: First United Methodist Church –12 pm to 6pm Huntingdon: Cash Saver – 1 pm to 6 pm
- Friday, Dec. 2 South Fulton: First Community Bank –1:30 pm to 5:30 pm
- Sunday, Dec. 4 Jackson: Northside Assembly of God – 8:30 am to 12 pm
LIFELINE provides blood services to 21 West Tennessee counties, including 17 hospitals and 14 emergency helicopter service locations. Annually, the Center collects approximately 26,000 blood products (red cell units, platelets, plasma, etc.) to meet the needs of patients. Of that total, 75% of those products are usually collected on the bloodmobiles across West Tennessee. LIFELINE also provides reference lab and cross-matching services to healthcare facilities. For more information, visit lifelinebloodserv.org.
