Give blood. Bradenton supplies drop to critical lows amid coronavirus, officials say
Blood supplies in Manatee-Sarasota have reached critical lows due to fears associated with the novel coronavirus.
Officials say it’s perfectly safe to give blood and SunCoast donation centers are taking extra precautions to include:
- Team members are subject to a symptom check, including their temperature, prior to every shift.
- Team members thoroughly scrub and disinfect their hands and change gloves between each donor interaction.
- SunCoast disinfects every donor touch point, including disinfecting donor beds, arm rests and tablets between each donation.
- SunCoast spaces donors in time slots to avoid donor-donor contact.
SunCoast released a call to action a few days announcing the severe shortage of blood supplies desperately needed for emergency care patients, but following recent announcements to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people, more than 100 planned mobile blood drives have been canceled.
This puts the local blood supply at tremendous risk.
“This equates to a loss of more than 1,000 units of blood,” said Jayne Giroux, director of community development for SunCoast. “As the pandemic unfolds, this situation is likely to get much worse. Just as we stock up for a hurricane, we must prepare now to have the resources for our medical professionals serving on the front lines.”
Cancer, trauma and surgical patients will still need these critical blood donations in the coming weeks.
“We want to assure those who wish to donate that our centers and bloodmobiles are going above and beyond the standard FDA-mandated safety protocols,” Giroux said. “Our facilities are probably the safest places you can be right now.”
There are two donor locations in Bradenton.
- Lakewood Ranch Plaza, 1731 Lakewood Ranch Blvd.
- Bayshore Shopping Center, 6026 14th St. W.
- The closest other location is at 1760 Mound St., Sarasota, which is their main location.
For more locations or information, visit suncoastblood.org or call 866-97-BLOOD.