SACRAMENTO–This Friday, March 27, Assemblymember Jim Wood (D-Santa Rosa) will be donating blood at a Community Blood Drive at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.
“Working with Senator Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), this blood drive booked up in less than a half hour after we all began promoting it and shows how willing people are to do whatever they can do to help during this crisis,” said Wood.
The American Red Cross, along with blood banks throughout California, report that there is a severe blood shortage due to an unprecedented number of blood drive cancellations during the Coronavirus outbreak. Healthy individuals are asked to donate now to patients needing blood, platelets and plasma.
Donating blood is recognized as an essential activity and Californians can still go donate blood, despite Governor Gavin Newsom’s stay-in-place order issued last week. Appointments for blood donation are required to ensure volunteer and staff safety. Blood banks are advising donors that they have enacted additional safety measures to the safety of donors and staff, who also are being screened for temperature and upper-respiratory symptoms.
“I know how much people want to help, and they may not know what do,” said Wood. “Donating blood is a truly meaningful way to make a difference.”
People 65 and older and those with underlying conditions should need not feel any pressure to donate. To learn more or schedule an appointment to donate, contact your local blood bank or the American Red Cross.
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