Blood donations have stabilized during the 6th month of the pandemic, but K R P S’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro tells us blood drives held at schools have decreased substantially.  

The Community Blood Center of the Ozarks was one of the essential businesses that remained open during the first months of the pandemic. But when schools and businesses closed, that meant C B C O couldn’t send their mobile blood teams to sites throughout Southeast Kansas, Southwest Missouri, and Northwest Arkansas. That put a severe strain on the blood supply to the 44-area hospitals that the organization supplies. That cut the availability of blood by 50 percent. Chris Pigram of the C B C O says that many of their operating procedure are unchanged for donating blood are unchanged, except for one. “Mask are required. We’ve increased our sanitation conditions, which were already really stringent. We operate under the guidance of the Food and Drug Administration. We’re considered a pharmaceutical manufacture, so they were already pretty stringent, but we have doubled down on those.” If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and have fully recovered, the CBCO asks you to consider donating convalescent plasma, which scientists are using to study the disease. For more information or to schedule an appointment. Visit cbco.org