This week's sNOwpocalypse might have been just your boring standard snowstorm, but it still led to the cancellation of thousands of blood drives around the city. Now, the mayor and the New York Blood Center are urging New Yorkers to donate blood, presumably to prevent a critical shortage and not to re-enact a terrifying episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark.
The NYBC says thousands of blood drives were canceled in New York and New Jersey this week and estimate about 3,000 pints of blood were lost, a magnitude of which has not been seen since Superstorm Sandy. "Thankfully, we were able to anticipate the blood drive cancelations, and our hospital partners have received the life-saving supplies they needed for the worst parts of the storm—Monday and Tuesday," NYBC Vice President of Customer Service Rob Purvis said in a statement earlier this week. "However, it is essential that donors come together in order to raise our levels back to pre-storm so that we can continue supplying the hospitals that serve our communities." People with O-type blood (the universal donor), are particularly encouraged to donate.
It takes very little time to donate blood, and the NYBC lists a number of helpful resources on their website. "I urge healthy New Yorkers to help us rebuild our blood bank and set aside less than one hour of their time to donate blood," De Blasio said yesterday. The mayor noted that donors also get a free medical exam, though he left out the exciting bit about free cookies and juice.
Blood is perishable, and this isn't the first time the city's needed healthy red cells after a snowstorm—just last year, de Blasio begged New Yorkers to stick needles in their veins after a string of miserable winter weather left blood banks looking a little thin.
