March 12 MEDIC Regional Update on Coronavirus/COVID-19

Thank you for being a great donor for MEDIC Regional Blood Center and our community. We know that you are receiving many emails and updates on the Coronavirus/COVID-19 and we want to provide you with information from MEDIC.

Our priority is to enhance the well-being of our community by providing a safe, adequate and economical supply of blood and blood-related products and services. That includes providing a safe environment for our donors and staff.

Our donation process: 

• MEDIC adheres to FDA regulations and screens all donors to ensure that they are feeling healthy and well.
• Each donor goes through a mini physical that includes a temperature check as well as a visual check on the donor’s well-being. MEDIC staff look for coughing, nose draining or if the donor is having a hard time breathing.
• Individuals should not donate if they are feeling ill.
• We ask donors a series of questions that include whether they have traveled outside the country.
• MEDIC follows appropriate infection control standards of donor rooms and mobile buses and uses single-use equipment for collection procedures.
• Blood collected at MEDIC is always tested for various infectious diseases.

What are we doing:

• MEDIC is following Knox County Health Department guidelines and updates.
• MEDIC is continually updated and in contact with the FDA, ABC (America’s Blood Centers) and AABB (blood center governing body) on COVID-19.
• MEDIC staff is given updated information on the COVID-19 multiple times each day.
• Any MEDIC staff member not feeling healthy and well is asked to stay home and not come in to work until they feel better.

What you need to know:

• According to the FDA, there is no known risk of transmission of COVID-19 through the blood donation process or from blood transfusions.
• According to the FDA, there is no intrinsic risk of the safety of the blood supply, but there is risk to the availability of blood for patients in need because of an increase in cancelled donation appointments and blood drives.
• ABC, AABB, American Red Cross and the Armed Service Blood Program along with comments from the FDA and Secretary of Health at HHS released a joint press release on March 12 urging donors to give as soon as possible.
• MEDIC is not a healthcare provider and thus does not provide a coronavirus test.
• Blood donation is not a mass gathering or social event.

Why donate?

• The blood on the shelves right now is the blood that would be used in a trauma/disaster situation, for surgeries and for cancer patients in need of a blood transfusion due to treatments.
• There is no subsitute for human blood. We must collect products to meet hospital demand.
• MEDIC serves 25 hospitals in 22 counties.
• This could become a national blood inventory crisis situation and it is imperative that health and well individuals continue to donate.

How to Donate:

• Call 865-521-2658 to schedule an appointment.
• Visit www.medicblood.org and follow the donate button to schedule an appointment at any of our four donor centers.
• Visit https://tndonor.org/donor/schedules/county to search for a mobile drive in your area.

Questions?

Please contact us at 865-524-3074 with specific questions or email us at contact@medicblood.org