Por favor, espera traducir

Community Blood Services

By giving blood through Upstate New York Transplant Services you are making sure that your family, friends, neighbors and other members of your community have blood available when they need it. Take the time to donate blood. Make a difference in someone’s life.

Hear from UNYTS President & CEO on why UNYTS is your community blood bank.

 

To learn of upcoming community drives, click here.

To sponsor a blood drive in your community, click here.

To schedule an appointment to donate blood, call 716.512.7940 or email donateblood@unyts.org. 

To take the "Post-Blood Donation Customer Survey", click here.

To learn about our Pints for Half-Pints Program for Women & Children's Hospital, click here

To download the "Your Blood Donation" brochure, click here. (PDF)

To download a 16-year-old Consent Form, click here. (PDF)

To view our full page ad in The Buffalo News, click here. (PDF)

58 Facts About Blood Donation (PDF)

 

What is a Community Blood Bank?
Community blood banks concentrate on fulfilling the blood needs of a single region. Often as a result of this locally-driven operation, donation rates rise among the area population and costs decrease on the part of area purchasers. Community blood banks are neighbors helping neighbors – and nearly 50% of the US blood supply is a result of these programs. New York City’s blood needs, with over 12m residents, are wholly supplied through a community blood bank. Community Blood Banks answer the everyday needs in thousands of communities across the nation and were the first and primary responder for many major tragedies including 9/11.

Why donate Blood?
By donating blood through Upstate New York Transplant Services, you will be helping your family, friends and neighbors – right here in Western New York.

  • Donated blood is the only source for those who need it. Despite amazing discoveries and breakthroughs in medical research, there is no substitute for the contents and functions human blood provides.
  • Odds are 1 in 3 that you will need blood during your lifetime but only 1 in 33 that you are a regular blood donor.
  • We will need over 1,000 donors each and every week just to keep up with everyday normal blood usage in our region.
  • We will save the hospitals we supply millions of dollars in related blood costs. This money can be used for patient care, doctors, nurses and all other things hospitals need to provide to the region.
  • Donating blood is fast, easy and virtually pain-free. Thousands of people donate numerous times during the year and with less than an hour of their time, thousands of lives are saved and bettered.

Who will my blood help?

  • Patients in need of blood throughout Western New York
  • Car accident victims who have suffered massive blood loss can need transfusions of 50 pints or more of red blood cells.
  • The average bone marrow transplant requires 120 units of platelets and about 20 units of red blood cells.
  • Severe burn victims can need about 20 units of platelets during their treatment.
  • Children being treated for cancer, premature infants and children having heart surgery need blood and platelets from donors of all types.
  • Anemic patients need blood transfusions to increase their iron levels.
  • Cancer, transplant and trauma patients, and patients undergoing open-heart surgery require platelet transfusions to survive.
  • Some patients with complications from severe sickle cell disease, an inherited disease that affects more than 80,000 people in the United States (98% of whom are of African descent), receive blood transfusions every month - up to 4 pints at a time.

Why blood services?
In 2005, Upstate New York Transplant Services was approached by a committee of area hospitals organized through The Western New York Purchasing Alliance under the premise that local hospitals long had been seeking an alternative with regard to blood purchasing. A subsequent feasibility study found that a community blood service operated through Upstate New York Transplant Services was the best alternative.

The transition was natural – Upstate New York Transplant Services already had an on-site Histocompatibility lab which was able to incorporate added testing as a result of blood donations.  In addition, Upstate New York Transplant Services has routinely secured higher rates of organ, tissue and eye donation than the national average, and the organization is poised to broaden this success in doing the same with blood.

Upstate New York Transplant Services Community Blood Service will…

  • Ensure that local donors help local patients, in addition to adding 80-100 local jobs.
  • Work diligently to transfer success in organ, tissue and eye donation to blood donation. Currently, Upstate New York Transplant Services is undergoing a three-year campaign to double the number of organ, tissue and eye donors in the region. This effort will partner well with blood donor recruitment.
  • Decrease the cost of blood to area hospitals by as much as 30% yearly by collecting, processing and distributing locally.

Safety First and Foremost
Advances in medical knowledge and technology make giving blood safe. Potential donors are thoroughly screened and given a physical examination. This involves completing a health history form and having a member of the collection team check your pulse, blood pressure, temperature and hemoglobin level.

Materials used in blood collection are sterile and never re-used. Blood donations are extensively tested. All testing is regulated by the FDA. Blood that does not pass testing is disposed of in a special biohazard waste container. To further ensure the safety of the blood supply, Upstate New York Transplant Services Community Blood Service will be routinely audited by the Food and Drug Administration. Upstate New York Transplant Services Community Blood Service will operate initially under a FDA permit granted to The Community Blood Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania.

When and where you need us…
Through mobile collections throughout Erie, Niagara and Wyoming counties, Upstate New York Transplant Services Community Blood Service is committed to highly visible high traffic areas to make donating blood in Western New York as convenient as possible. Whether it is blood drives at businesses, schools, universities or community groups, Upstate New York Transplant Services Community Blood Service will bring the opportunity to you.