Hurricane Recovery: ImpactLife continues support for blood supply in Houston
July 19 2024 - 12:21PM
ImpactLife continues to send blood components to support patient
needs in the area of Texas hit by Hurricane Beryl earlier this
month. Many blood drives throughout the region were canceled after
the hurricane made landfall early on July 8, 2024, and several
community donor centers were temporarily closed due to power
outages, hindering the region's available blood supply.
While continuing to meet commitments to local hospitals,
ImpactLife is participating in a national effort to support the
region's blood supply, and has made additional shipments of
platelets and red blood cells each of the last two weeks to Gulf
Coast Regional Blood Center and to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center,
both based in Houston.
Kevin Shipley, Associate Vice President of Community Engagement
with Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, shares a word of thanks from
the region affected by Hurricane Beryl. (view on YouTube | download
.mp4)
Hurricane Beryl has left people in our community without power
for multiple days or even a week. This has put a damper on our
blood supply and our ability to provide the units needed every
single day by the thousands of patients that we serve. We’re very
fortunate and we want to say thank you to the many partners across
the country who have stepped up and helped send units so that every
patient, every day, every hospital, doesn’t have to worry about
blood being readily available. Thank you to our partners and to the
donors across the country who have supported us in our time of
need.
-Kevin Shipley, Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center
Blood and platelet donations are used to support ongoing,
routine use at local hospitals while a reserve is needed in case of
a spike in demand due to large scale emergency or mass trauma.
Additional donations from type O-positive and O-negative blood
donors, and from platelet donors of all blood types, are
needed at this time. To schedule, call ImpactLife at
(800) 747-5401, visit www.bloodcenter.org, or download the
ImpactLife mobile app at www.bloodcenter.org/app.
ImpactLife Donor Promotions (through July
31) To thank donors who give blood during this
critical time of year, ImpactLife will provide all presenting
donors with a voucher to redeem for their choice of an electronic
gift card, bonus points to use in the Donor Rewards Store, or an
equivalent donation to Make-a-Wish Illinois, Make-a-Wish
Iowa, Make-a-Wish Missouri, or Make-a-Wish Wisconsin via
the blood center’s “Good Giving” program.
- Whole blood donation (Donor Centers and
mobile blood drives)
- $20 gift card, $20 donation OR 1,000 points
- Double red and plasma only donations
- $25 gift card, $25 donation OR 1,500 points
- Platelet donations (donors who have
given platelets 2+ times previously with ImpactLife)
- $25 gift card, $25 donation OR 1,500 points
- Platelet donations (donor’s first or
second attempt to ever give platelets with ImpactLife)
- $50 gift card, $50 donation OR 3,000 points
About ImpactLifeImpactLife is a nonprofit
community organization providing blood services to more than 120
hospitals and emergency medical service providers in Illinois,
Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin, as well as resource sharing partners
across the country. The blood center operates 23 Donor Centers
and holds approximately 5000 mobile blood drives annually to
provide blood components needed by hospitals and in pre-hospital
emergency response throughout our region.
For more information on blood inventories and donor promotions,
see www.bloodcenter.org and find us @impactlifeblood on Facebook,
X, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
-end-
- ImpactLife assists region affected by Hurricane Beryl
Kirby Winn
ImpactLife
(563) 349-1571
kwinn@impactlife.org