THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED, BELOW.
Another unfortunate side effect of the growing number of coronavirus cases, is that hospitals and the Red Cross are beginning to let us know that they need blood donations, and that their need is only likely to increase as time continues.
So, the Boulder City Firefighters Association is hosting a Blood Drive on Saturday, April 4th from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Elaine K. Smith Center (700 Wyoming Street).
They are strongly suggesting that those who can donate please make an appointment in advance to help make the process a smooth one. To do so, please call 877-258-4825 or go online HERE and select a time.
UPDATE: we received a few questions on what is being done to protect donors during this blood drive. Their answer is directly copied below from Cindy Harvey, the Donor Recruitment Representative at Vitalant:
Here’s what Vitalant is doing to protect our donors:
- Only healthy people are encouraged to come give blood. In fact, donors must be feeling well and free of respiratory illness symptoms, including fever, to be eligible to donate.
- People who meet certain travel and other at-risk criteria for coronavirus infection are deferred ahead of time from donating. Learn More
- Our staff wear gloves and personal protective gear; they wipe down donor-touched areas often and after every collection using a disinfectant.
- We will be taking temperatures prior to entering the community drive.
- Staff use sterile, single-use collection sets for each donor and scrub the donor’s arm for 30 seconds before the collection.
- Our donation locations are disinfected frequently.
- We’re following social distancing recommendations to keep donors and staff safe. To include having the reception and donation area with the chairs 6 feet apart. If all chairs are full we will ask the donors to wait in their vehicle.
- Appointments are strongly recommended.
- Staff who don’t feel well are required to stay home.
- The snacks and drinks will be handed to the donors by the Vitalant staff.
- All employees are to take their temperatures before reporting to work and if they are not feeling well they are asked to stay home and report to their Manager and to HR.
