WEIRTON MEDICAL CENTER HOSTS EMERGENCY BLOOD DRIVE TO ADDRESS BLOOD SHORTAGE

 

Weirton, WV(Sept. 15, 2023) — Weirton Medical Center is partnering with non-profit blood services organization Vitalant to address a critical blood shortage in our area. They are hosting a blood drive at their facility at 601 Colliers Way on Friday, October 6, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in MOB A & B. WMC encourages healthy people in our community to sign up to donate blood to help maintain a safe and adequate blood supply.

Appointments are recommended – either by phone at 877-25-VITAL (877-258-4825), or by visiting vitalant.org.

Vitalant supplies blood to WMC as well as other area hospitals including WVU Medicine. Donors of all blood types are needed, especially type O. In an emergency, medical personnel reach for O-negative when there is not time to determine a patient’s blood type, and O-positive can help anyone with Rh-positive blood. 

Most people are eligible to donate, and new eligibility guidance from the Food and Drug Administration allows even more people donate. Veterans who have spent time in France, Ireland or the United Kingdom are no longer permanently deferred from donating blood due to risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD, also known as mad cow disease). Review eligibility requirements at vitalant.org/eligibility.

Blood donors are encouraged to eat a nutritious meal and drink plenty of water the day of their appointment. Everyone should bring ID such as a driver’s license or Blood Donor I.D. card. There is no waiting period to donate after receiving a seasonal flu shot or FDA authorized COVID-19 booster.

About Vitalant

Vitalant (“Vye-TAL-ent”) is the nation’s largest independent, nonprofit blood services provider exclusively focused on providing lifesaving blood and comprehensive transfusion medicine services for about 900 hospitals and their patients across the U.S. Every day, Vitalant needs to collect nearly 5,000 blood, platelet and plasma donations to help save lives.