Carter BloodCare serves around 50 counties across northern, central and eastern Texas regions, including Collin, Denton and Dallas counties. Black said Carter BloodCare ideally needs to see 1,000-1,500 donors a day across those 50 counties in order to keep up with the demand of blood transfusions for local patients.
The nonprofit is averaging within that range, according to Black. From January to April of this year, a total of 97,128 pints of whole blood and 16,197 pints of platelets, which aid with blood clotting, have been collected.
“We’ve definitely seen that things are starting to rebound after the past two years when we were really, really hit hard by the effects of the pandemic,” Black said. “In February the past two years, we had closures in our area because of severe weather, and that impacts us, too.”
However, Black said that Carter BloodCare is cautious of declining donations during the summertime. Up to 25% of blood that is donated on a regular basis comes from high school blood drives, he added.
Black said most adults can donate blood roughly every two months, and the donation process typically takes around 45 minutes to an hour.
“We still actively encourage folks to please put us on their to-do list this summer,” Black said. “Summer tends to be one of our slow periods, because the high schools are out on break. People are going on vacation and everything.”
Visit www.carterbloodcare.org for more information on donating blood.
