(Blood Drive Begins)
PALM SPRINGS (CNS) – With blood donations down due to the coronavirus pandemic, a two-day blood drive will begin today at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.
“We are urging healthy residents to come forward to help make up this deficit by making appointments in the weeks ahead to help maintain an ample supply,” said Don Escalante, a spokesman for Lifestream Blood Bank, which is organizing the drive.
The San Bernardino-based donation service has had to cancel more than 80 mobile blood drives in Southern California planned from mid-March through the end of May, equaling about 5,000 pints of lost blood, he said.
For precautionary reasons, LifeStream is not accepting blood donations from healthcare workers who have cared for confirmed, or presumed, COVID-19 patients in the last 28 days.
Blood collected through donations to LifeStream flows to more than 80 hospitals in Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego counties.
The drive at the Desert Regional Medical Center will be held at the hospital’s Jerry Stergios Building at 1150 N. Indian Canyon Drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday and noon to 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
For appointments call 800-879-4484, or visit www.LStream.org.
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