New York Blood Center (NYBC) is one of the largest non-profit Food & Drug Administration-approved organizations in United States. It began its operations in 1964 in with the primary objective to collect, test and distribute blood components to over 200 hospitals. Back then the area NYBC covered was home to 22 million people in New York City, New Jersey, Hudson Valley, Long Island and selected areas in Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

In 1989, the NYBC started to collect bone marrow in 1989 with a registry of 200,000 donors listed. Their aim was to recruit over 230,000 potential bone marrow donors for surgeries, harvest and transplants. All qualified bone marrow donors are aged 18 to 60 years old, male or female and pass the test for compatible Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) markers.

The NYBC further expanded it’s services in 1992 when the National Cord Blood Program (NCBP) was opened. The program accepts cord blood donations from married couples who are expecting a baby. Records show that over 60,000 parents have already donated their newborn’s cord blood in NYBC-NCBP.

Donation percentages for cord blood since then are:

48% are Caucasian
21% are Hispanic-American
20% are African-American
8% are Asian-American

Donations Accepted:

Specific type blood components are donated in NYBC:  whole blood, plasma, red blood cell or platelet. A qualified donor weighs 110 pounds; from age 17 to 75 years old. Donors  must have no history of malignant diseases. As for all registries, NYBC requires donors to present a legal ID that shows the signature.

Able donors aged 16 need to present a consent form signed by the parent/ parents; having a parent or legal guardian would make verification and donation easier.

All donations can either be for personal use or donated as stock supply for hospitals or a particular patient.

Donation Pay: 0

Perks: You’ll be served with refreshments after donation process.

Schedules & Operating Hours:

NYBB has also 6 branches in Long Island, 3 in New Jersey (in Middlesex, in Somerset and in Union) and 5 in Hudson Valley. If you’ll visit the NYBC website, you’ll see the exact map of each donor center, its locations as well as its driving directions.

For contact numbers and online maps, see this directory.

Source:

NYBloodCenter.org

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