Unusually cold temperatures with widespread illness are affecting donor turnout and blood donations.
The Blood Connection (TBC) is urging donors to give blood as soon as possible to ensure hospital needs are uninterrupted. This includes neighboring communities that aren’t able to collect blood donations right now, across the state and state lines.
TBC is requesting whole blood and platelet donations. All blood types are needed.
Donors can donate blood at any of TBC’s donation centers: 435 Woodruff Road, Greenville; 341 Old Abbeville Highway, Greenwood; 1954 East Main Street, Easley; 1308 Sandifer Boulevard, Seneca; 270 North Grove Medical Park Drive, Spartanburg; and 825 Spartanburg Highway, Hendersonville.
Donors can also find a local blood drive by visiting TBC’s online donor schedules.
TBC’s mission is to ensure all hospital partners have the blood supplies needed for patients at any given time. Blood donors must be healthy, weigh at least 110 pounds, and be 17 years old or 16 with written parental consent.
Visit thebloodconnection.org for additional information.
Founded as Greenville Blood Assurance in 1962, The Blood Connection is the largest independently managed, non-profit community blood center in the region. Licensed and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, TBC serves an 18,280-square-mile area of South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina, holding 12-14 blood drives a day through bloodmobiles, portable field units and fixed donation sites. This equates to approximately 125,000 units a year, which are tested and processed at TBC’s state-of-the-art Biologics Processing Center in Greenville, SC.