FROM: Jeanne Kohl-Welles, King County Councilmember
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
As I have mentioned in previous updates, growing COVID-19 concerns and closures have led to canceled blood drives and 2,500 lost donations, putting our local blood supply in danger of collapse. While inventories are now holding steady as faithful donors and first-time donors respond to the urgent need, donations will continue to drop in the days and weeks to come.
New donors are needed now to step-up and save a life, and for donors to make this a generous and consistent habit. All types of blood are needed for cancer treatment, trauma cases, and many other situations. The process only takes an hour and actual donation time is about 10 minutes.
Donating blood is a safe activity, and there is no risk of contracting coronavirus from the blood donation process.
Bloodworks Northwest has more information on coronavirus, who is eligible to donate blood, and donation locations at www.bloodworksnw.org/
As a reminder, the county has many COVID-19 resources for the general public, the business community, workplaces and employers, travelers, healthcare professionals and links to information at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Washington state Department of Health.
Please visit the Public Health website and find additional information available on the Public Health Insider.
Also, if you have a moment, I encourage you to read this article that appeared in today’s Washington Post that show through animation how viruses like COVID-19 spread so quickly and what we can do to “flatten the curve”: https://www.washingtonpost.
--Jeanne Kohl-Welles, King County Councilmember
--Jeanne Kohl-Welles, King County Councilmember
I'm a volunteer at the Bellevue location and they sent out this information this week:
ReplyDelete"Bloodworks is moving towards appointment only collection at all sites to keep the donor flow controlled and limit the amount of physical interaction among donors, volunteers and staff."
If you walk in and they happen to have an open appointment they will fit you in, but due to mobile drive being shut down the appointment books are full and I highly recommend that you go on their website, their app, or call them to set up an appointment. You may not be able to get in right away, but the need will not end and we ALWAYS need donors. We ALWAYS want you to donate when you can and it breaks my heart to turn walk ins away because I know they might not come back.
They also need volunteers! There are a number of positions available for people to explore. I have volunteered with them for a few years now and I love it.
Thank you for posting this call to action!