The pandemic has taken a toll on many aspects of our lives, and one of the most urgent is the toll on our precious blood supply. Even during a pandemic, cancer patients, premature babies, surgery patients and accident victims still need blood to survive.
To bring attention to the need for a safe and ample blood supply, the City of Las Cruces will host a blood drive at City Hall, 700 N Main St., from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, July 27. The public is invited to make an appointment and be a part of this important initiative to help those in need in our community.
COVID-19 testing is now part of the testing process. Individuals who have had COVID-19 and are recovered are encouraged to go to vitalant.org/covidfree and fill out the form to determine if they are eligible to donate. Plasma drawn from recovered COVID-19 patients can be used under Food and Drug Administration guidelines to help people who are currently hospitalized with the virus to help their system fight the virus and to assist in their recovery.
Vitalant adheres to the most stringent Centers for Disease Control guidelines including disinfecting all surfaces between donors, and by having both staff and donors wear face coverings. Staff temperatures are taken daily, and donor temperatures are taken prior to the start of the donation process.
Donors willing to step up to help the City care for the citizens in this important initiative can make their appointment at bloodhero.com. Those who have recovered from COVID-19 and wish to donate plasma to help others recover are encouraged to go to vitalant.org/covidfree and fill out the form. They will be contacted by our staff for further instruction.
Let’s step up and make this drive a great success for our city and our citizens.
About Vitalant Vitalant (“Vye-TAL-ent”) is a national community blood service provider, supplying comprehensive transfusion medicine services for nearly 1,000 hospitals and health care partners for patients in need across 40 states. Vitalant inspires local communities to serve the needs of others and transform lives through the selfless act of donating blood. Every day, almost 5,000 blood donations are needed to meet the needs of people throughout the U.S., and Vitalant’s 800,000 donors supply 1.8 million donations a year. In addition to blood products, Vitalant offers customers transfusion services, medical consulting, quality guidance, ongoing education, research and more. For information and to schedule a donation, visit vitalant.org or call 877/25-VITAL (877/258-4825).