The region’s blood supply is dangerously low and donors are desperately needed. Community Blood Center (CBC) announces a blood shortage in the region, one year after the region was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before COVID-19, donors could stop by community blood drives at convenient locations like high schools, colleges, and offices. It has been one year since these groups had to cancel their blood drives due to COVID-19 and few have been able to resume these life-saving events.
CBC currently has a just over a 4-day supply of blood, which is well below what is needed by area hospitals. The Kansas City metro’s healthcare system requires nearly 600 donations each day to treat patients ranging from trauma victims to newborn babies and their mothers to cancer patients. Donors with type O and type B blood are especially needed as CBC currently has less than a 3-day supply of these blood types.
Bates County Memorial Hospital will host its annual spring blood drive on Wednesday, April 7 from 12:00 – 5:00 pm in the BCMH Education Center. Appointments are preferred and can be made online by visiting www.savealifenow.org and using the code KCBS to find our drive.
Bates County Memorial Hospital is 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.
