Community Blood Center Expands Capacity at Donor Centers; Cancels all Blood Drives

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In light of the stay-at-home mandate to take place in the Kansas City region, Community Blood Center (CBC) is cancelling all blood drives through the end of April and extending open hours at its donor centers. Additionally, they are urging healthy donors to make appointments to help maintain the region’s blood supply at this critical time. The outpouring of support from the community has been abundant and much-needed. In order to maintain a controlled environment, CBC will be moving to an appointment-only schedule effective immediately. Walk-ins will not be accepted at this time.

As part of the area’s critical infrastructure, CBC will continue to operate all seven donor centers and is encouraging all donors to continue making appointments to donate. To alleviate travel to and from our donor centers, CBC is providing a letter to donors that indicates they are traveling in order to provide lifesaving blood products. This letter will be sent to all donors with appointments and will also be available online.

Beginning Monday, March 23, all seven of CBC’s donor centers will be open Monday – Thursday 7 am – 7 pm, and Friday – Sunday 7 am – 4 pm. Donors can schedule appointments by calling 1-877-468-6844 or visiting savealifenow.org/coronavirus.

Blood collection sites are disinfected frequently, and we are taking extra precautions to help prevent the person-to-person spread of COVID-19 as per CDC recommendations. CBC staff are also practicing health self-assessments prior to presenting at work. As always, people are not eligible to donate if they’re experiencing a cold, sore throat, respiratory infection or flu-like symptoms.

In order to protect our staff, healthy blood donors and our community blood supply, individuals are instructed to avoid donor centers if they are experiencing a fever or other symptoms of COVID-19 (cough, shortness of breath, or difficulty breathing), have had close contact with someone diagnosed with or suspected of having COVID-19 in the last 14 days, or been diagnosed with or suspected of having COVID-19 until 28 days after their illness has resolved. CBC does NOT test for COVID-19.

Additional information is available at savealifenow.org/coronavirus.

Contact: Chelsey Smith, (816) 645-4323

About Community Blood Center of Greater Kansas City (CBC)

Community Blood Center, now part of the NYBC family, serves hospitals in the Kansas City metropolitan area, as well as eastern Kansas and western Missouri. CBC provides nearly 200,000 blood products per year to approximately 65 area hospitals – and calls upon about 580 donors each day to meet the need for a life-saving gift of blood. The blood center makes timely deliveries of safe, high-quality products to meet transfusion needs, for routine care and emergencies. For more information, visit http://www.savealifenow.org/.