Coronavirus has decreased the number of donations, but the need for blood is on the rise. Be a hero and donate. Join us Tuesday, March 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. outside the main entrance of FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital.
Safety of donors, team members and blood recipients are OneBlood’s top priorities. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that the coronavirus does not pose any known risk to blood donors during the donation process or from attending blood drives.
OneBlood is FDA-regulated and required to follow strict operational guidelines.
SAFETY MEASURES
- Our facilities and Big Red Buses are clean and meet all FDA safety standards.
- At every blood drive and donor center OneBlood team members follow safety protocols, including:
o Wearing medical gloves for blood collections.
o Wiping down donor-touched areas and equipment after every collection with disinfectant. This includes donor beds, registration tablets, blood-pressure cuff and hemoglobin sensors.
o Using sterile collection sets for every donation.
o Conducting donor mini-physicals, including temperature checks to ensure donors are healthy and well on the day of donation.
- Only people who are healthy are eligible to donate blood.
- As an additional safety measure, OneBlood is asking people who have traveled to countries at high risk for the coronavirus to self-defer from donating blood for 28 days upon returning to the United States.
- Team members who are sick or not feeling well do not report to work.
SOCIAL DISTANCING AT BLOOD DRIVES
- At blood drives, only a certain number of people will be permitted on the bus at any one time. Donors will be asked to provide their cell phone number so they can wait in their car or outside the Big Red Bus. They will be called when it is their turn to donate blood.
- At our donor centers, donors can wait in the donor center, but will need to maintain a safe distance between other donors or they can wait in their car and they will be called when it is their turn to donate.
APPOINTMENTS ENCOURAGED
Help us help you. While we are accepting walk-ins, we encourage donors to make online appointments at www.oneblood.org. This will further assist with social distancing efforts and help with donor flow.
