January 27, 2021 — Donating blood can help save a life. That is the message New York Blood Center’s Andrea Cefarelli wants listeners to know on the latest episode of “Prep Talk.” While January is recognized as National Blood Donor Month, Cefarelli encourages listeners to donate year-round. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a chronic deficit in blood donations needed for patients in the hospitals served by the New York Blood Center. Now more than ever, it is important to donate blood to ensure an adequate supply to support New York City hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

“With the pandemic, we’ve had a chronic deficit in blood donations, and that’s really because pre-pandemic, we hosted about 550 community blood drives each and every month, and when the pandemic began those were canceled for a good three months,” Cefarelli said. “We’ve been slowly rebuilding hosting blood drives with organizations in the community, but we’re nowhere back to normal.”

Cefarelli also noted that New York Blood Center requires between 28, 000 and 30,000 monthly blood donations for the 200 hospitals it serves throughout the city. These donations help cancer patients, sickle cell patients, newborn babies and people undergoing routine surgeries. 

“Red cells last just 42 days, so it takes a constant supply of people giving blood. Platelets primarily used by cancer patients or surgeries usually last just five days, so we require volunteer blood donors and individuals to step up and host blood drives 12 months of the year,” Cefarelli added. “We are extremely grateful for the generous community even during a pandemic.”

New York Blood Center has implemented numerous protocols to ensure donor safety. Cefarelli said blood collection sites are disinfected frequently; close to 95 percent of donations are by appointments only, face coverings are worn, and both staff and donors receive temperature checks prior to procedures. Individuals may not donate if they have a positive diagnostic test or experienced COVID-19 symptoms in the 14 days prior to an appointment. New Yorkers can visit www.nybc.org for more information.

You can listen to the latest episode on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Spreaker.

Profile 

Andrea H. Cefarelli is the senior executive director of Donor, Recruitment and Marketing at New York Blood Center and NYBC’s affiliates [NYBC, Blood Bank of Delmarva, Rhode Island Blood Services, Community Blood Center (Kansas/Missouri) and Innovative Blood Resources (Minnesota/Nebraska.] Andrea began her blood-banking career in 1993 as an account manager. She served as a board member of ADRP and has presented at both ADRP and AABB. Andrea has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Vermont.  

Founded in 1964, New York Blood Center (NYBC) is a nonprofit organization that is one of the largest independent, community-based blood centers in the world. NYBC, along with its operating divisions Community Blood Center of Kansas City, Missouri (CBC), Innovative Blood Resources (IBR), Blood Bank of Delmarva (BBD), and Rhode Island Blood Center (RIBC), collect approximately 4,000 units of blood products each day and serve local communities of more than 75 million people in the Tri-State area (NY, NJ, CT), Mid Atlantic area (PA, DE, MD, VA), Missouri and Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Southern New England. 

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