Local donors are generous with blood donations after Hurricane Sandy

By Tom Petersen

The Puget Sound Blood Center bloodmobile was packed last Saturday in Richmond Beach as Shoreliners answered the call to help with the post-Superstorm Sandy recovery.

As many as 300 blood drives a day up and down the East Coast have been cancelled over the last two weeks because donation centers have been damaged or mobile units have nowhere to park.  Across the country, blood banks have stepped up recruitment efforts so that extra pints can be rushed to the storm-ravaged areas, shoring up depleted stocks. Extra donations will be needed for next several weeks because of Sandy. Then the holidays will be upon us, when the need for blood always spikes because regular donors leave town, people choose those vacation days for elective surgeries, and celebrants' mishaps send more people to emergency rooms.

PSBC has brick-and-mortar donation centers in Lynnwood and North Seattle that serve the greater Shoreline community. Bloodmobiles make frequent appearances in and around Shoreline; there are afternoon and evening blood drives this coming Tuesday in nearby Maple Leaf and the next Tuesday, November 20, at St. Luke's in Shoreline.

The website can be searched for blood drives, and appointments can be made online as well.

Appointments are not required but are recommended; they help cut down on wait times and help the staff prepare. 40 people came to the Richmond Beach event but the bloodmobile could only take 31; if more people had made reservations, a larger unit with more staff would have been dispatched.