SDSU, American Red Cross Team Up for Annual Blood Drive
With hundreds of school and university blood drives canceled this fall, donors and blood drive hosts like SDSU are helping to address the blood supply shortfall.
For the fourth consecutive year, San Diego State University and the American Red Cross are partnering together for the Aztecs for Life blood drive.
The blood drive will be held 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at Pechanga Arena, 3500 Sports Arena Blvd., maintaining standards of safety and infection control. The blood collected at Aztecs for Life blood drives have helped ensure cancer patients, trauma victims, surgery patients and others receive the blood products they need.
“This school year may look different but the need for blood donations remains constant,” said Steve Schnall, SDSU’s executive associate athletic director.
“One great way to help our community is to roll up a sleeve and ensure that hospital patients have the blood products they need,” Schnall said. “We look forward to another impactful blood drive this year, and thank Pechanga Arena for opening their doors to provide ample space for a socially distanced blood drive.”
The Red Cross needs to collect more than 13,000 blood donations daily to meet the needs of 2,600 hospitals and transfusion centers nationwide. Patients rely on volunteer donors as the only source of blood for those in need of lifesaving transfusions. Blood collected at this drive can help ensure cancer patients, trauma victims, surgery patients and others have the blood products they need.
Appointments are required and can be made by downloading the free Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-733-2767, or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device, and using “aztecs” for the sponsor code.
To protect the health and safety of others, individuals who do not feel well or believe they may be ill with COVID-19 should postpone donating.
All blood types are needed, and a blood donor card or driver’s license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in. In most states, individuals who are 17 years of age (16 with parental consent where allowed by state law), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood.
Each Red Cross blood drive and donation center follows the highest standards of safety and infection control, and additional precautions — including temperature checks, physical distancing and face coverings — have been implemented to help protect the health and well-being of all who attend.
As a show of gratitude, those who come to donate blood will receive a T-shirt and other giveaways including a free meal gift card, courtesy of Raising Cane’s, and a Woodstock's Pizza discount coupon, while supplies last.
Antibody Testing
The Red Cross is testing blood donations for COVID-19 antibodies, which may now help current coronavirus patients in need of convalescent plasma transfusions. The test may indicate if the donor’s immune system has produced antibodies to this coronavirus, regardless of whether an individual developed COVID-19 symptoms.
COVID-19 antibody test results will be available within one to two weeks via the Red Cross Blood Donor App or donor portal at RedCrossBlood.org. A positive antibody test result does not confirm infection or immunity. The Red Cross is not testing donors to diagnose illness, referred to as a diagnostic test.
