Blood Donors Saved My Life

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Imagine being a healthy, happy 12-yearold boy enjoying family and friends – then suddenly having your life forever changed by a cancer diagnosis. That’s exactly what happened to Jasiah. Last year, he was diagnosed with an extremely rare brain tumor known as Intracranial Sarcoma. A born fighter, Jasiah recently finished treatment at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where he underwent aggressive chemotherapy and radiation.

Throughout his cancer journey Jasiah has received multiple blood transfusions and platelets, which helped keep him strong enough to continue his fight. “Blood donation is always needed, and can save the lives of so many people,” said his mom Kasey. “By donating blood, you will help maintain the community blood supply to help my son and patients like him.”

If you are healthy and eligible, please consider giving blood through Vitalant.

The majority of people in the US are eligible to donate blood, but only 3% actually do. As a result, there is critical blood shortage right now.

Please schedule an appointment to donate by visiting Vitalant.org or calling 877-25-VITAL (877-258-4825).

When you donate blood through Vitalant, it most likely helps a patient right here in our community. Vitalant is the blood provider for a number of hospitals in the South Hills and Washington County, including AHN Brentwood, AHN Canonsburg Hospital, AHN Jefferson Hospital, St. Clair Health, Washington Health System, as well as all other AHN and UPMC hospitals in the greater Pittsburgh area.

To care for their patients, these hospitals require about 600 blood donations every day. Prior to the pandemic, our community donated only about half this amount of blood, forcing Vitalant to import blood from other

cities. But today, donations are even lower and only about a third of the blood these hospitals need is collected locally.

Our country is experiencing a shortage of blood donors

Why is this happening? The number of people donating blood has been declining for years, but COVID-19 and its shelter-in-place policies dealt a devastating blow. Even though the pandemic emergency has officially ended, a significant number of blood donors have not come back, a significant number of blood donors have not come back. This may be because many businesses, schools and places of worship that used to host onsite blood drives have not resumed operating in-person.

At the same time, Vitalant’s blood donation centers have also experienced a decline. In contrast, hospitals’ demand for blood is back at pre-pandemic levels, creating a serious problem which could eventually lead to a public health crisis.

Many convenient places to donate blood

Vitalant makes it convenient to donate blood, offering 10 comfortable blood donation centers throughout the area, as well as daily community blood drives. The South Hills donation center, located in the Manor Building at 4701 Baptist Road, is open six days a week.

Vitalant also offers regularly scheduled community blood drives at the following locations:

• Cameron Wellness Center in Washington the second and fourth Wednesday of each month

• Center Presbyterian Church in McMurray the first and third Monday and last Saturday of each month

•Hampton Inn in Bridgeville on the second Tuesday of each month

Sponsored content brought to you by Vitalant. 

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