Summer 2018 Blood Donation Drive: Community Blood Services
NJ Blood Svcs. · Central Jersey Blood Ctr. · NJ Red Cross
Central Career School
The need for blood is constant and critical. We have all come to expect that if we or our loved ones need blood in an emergency situation it will be available but that may not be the case. Our aging population continues to need more transfusions, and new advances in medicine and an increase in the number of people diagnosed with cancer have increased the use of life-saving blood.
Nearly 4 million Americans would die each year without life-saving blood transfusions, but less than 5% of the population donates blood. New Jersey and New York State must import thousands of units of blood from other parts of the country in order to meet their patients’ needs.
- Red Blood Cells have a shelf life of about 35 days.
- A bone marrow recipient needs up to 20 units of red blood cells and 120 units of platelets.
- An automobile accident victim needs up to 50 units of red blood cells.
- A sickle cell anemia patient needs up to 14 units or red blood cells per treatment.
- A cancer patient needs up to 8 units of platelets per week.
- A heart surgery patient needs up to 6 units of red blood cells and 6 units of platelets.
- An organ transplant recipient needs 30 units of platelets and 25 units of plasma.
Thanks to the commitment and generosity of its donors, Community Blood Services has been serving our community’s transfusion medicine needs for more than 60 years. We provide life-saving blood and blood products to hospitals in New Jersey and New York, bone marrow registration and donor services, and public and private umbilical cord blood collection and storage. Our New Jersey Cord Blood Bank is the only public cord blood bank for the State of New Jersey.