POTTSTOWN PA – A Friday (April 19, 2024) blood drive sponsored by the Pottstown branch of the NAACP and the Ricketts Center is scheduled for noon to 5 p.m. at the center, 658 Beech St. The event is free and open to public participation.
Advance registration to attend the American Red Cross blood drive is available online.
All donors are needed and welcomed, the NAACP branch said in an e-mail, but its members have issued “special appeal to Black and African-American donors to come out to support those with Sickle Cell Disease.” The illness, according to the National Centers for Disease Control, is “a group of inherited red blood cell disorders” that “causes a constant shortage of red blood cells.”
Blood transfusions for critically ill patients are among the high needs for blood donations, the chapter noted. Some require a close genetic match. Because a “majority of people with (sickle cell) disease are Black or African-American,” the demand for Black or African-American donors is also high, it added.
The Red Cross explains more about the disease-related blood need online.
Photo by Nguyen Hiep on Unsplash, used by Travels With The Post under license
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