Upcoming Somerset County Blood Drives

Press release from New Jersey Blood Service:

March 2, 2021

Due to the coronavirus, we are experiencing low blood supplies.

We urgently need people to make every effort to donate blood!

New Jersey Blood Services would like to announce that it is conducting blood drives in your area which are open to the public. Please include these drives in any listing of community events which you maintain. The following drives are scheduled in the near future:

3/18/21 Somerville Elks, 375 Union Ave, Bridgewater 1:00 pm-7:00 pm

3/18/21 St. Mary's Parish Center, 1900 Brooks Blvd., Hillsborough 1:00 pm-7:00 pm

3/30/21 Firemen's Exempt Hall, 31 Mountain Boulevard, Watchung 1:00 pm-7:00 pm

Blood products have a short shelf life – from five to 42 days, so constant replenishment is necessary. Each day there are patients who depend on the transfusion of red blood cells, platelets and plasma to stay alive. But blood and blood products can’t be manufactured. They can only come from volunteer blood donors who take an hour to attend a blood drive or visit a donor center.

To donate blood or for information on how to organize a blood drive, please call Toll Free: 1-800-933-2566.

Visit: www.nybloodcenter.org

Any company, community organization, place of worship, or individual may host a blood drive. NYBC also offers special community service scholarships for students who organize community blood drives during summer months. Blood donors receive free mini-medical exams on site including information about their temperature, blood pressure and hematocrit level. Eligible donors include those people at least age 16 (with parental permission or consent), who weigh a minimum of 110 pounds, are in good health and meet all Food & Drug Administration and NY or NJ State Department of Health donor criteria. People over 75 may donate with a doctor's note.

This press release was produced by New Jersey Blood Service. The views expressed here are the author's own.