COVID-19 Survivors Sought To Donate Blood Amid Surge

Amie Schaenzer
Updated ·3 min read

ACROSS ILLINOIS — Versiti Blood Centers is facing a "critical need" for COVID convalescent plasma and is pleading with area residents to donate blood to help save Chicago-area residents fighting for their lives due to COVID-19. The need for the plasma has doubled in the last four weeks and inventory levels have dropped from a month's supply to just four days, Dan Waxman, vice president of transfusion medicine and senior medical officer at Versiti.

The blood-related therapy is used by area hospitals to treat the most severely affected patients, and the plasma contains antibodies, which can help fight the infection. In recent days, COVID convalescent plasma has been shipping out to local hospitals three times faster than it is coming in.

Versiti Blood Centers have been able to meet the needs of hospitals with the assistance of other blood centers. But with a rapid spike in cases and hospital admissions, Versiti could soon see the much-needed supply deteriorate.

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“We are facing a critical need,” Waxman said in a statement Thursday. “Without intervention from the community, we face the very real possibility that we won’t be able to fill orders for patients in hospitals we serve. This important therapy cannot be manufactured. It comes from generous volunteer donors in our communities who have recovered from COVID and now are able to help hospitalized patients in those very same communities.”

It takes about an hour to donate plasma. The blood center is also offering antibody tests for anyone who donates blood.

For those who have previously donated COVID convalescent plasma, and are interested in doing so again, call 1-800-786-4483 to make another appointment. CCP donors are generally eligible to donate up to 12 times.

Those who are interested in donating COVID convalescent plasma for the first time are asked to visit versiti.org/covid19plasma.

Versiti Blood Center of Illinois is a not-for-profit organization headquartered in Aurora. Founded in 1943, it is the oldest blood center in Illinois and serves patients at 71 hospitals in Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana. It operates 12 donor centers.

Chicago-area blood centers are located in the following towns:

  • Westmont, 6317 South Fairview, Westmont: Hours

  • Tinley Park, 16100 Centennial Circle, Tinley Park: Hours

  • Naperville, 1297 South Naper Boulevard, Naperville: Hours

  • Winfield: 27W281 Geneva Road, Winfield: Hours

  • Joliet, 2625 W. Jefferson St., Joliet: Hours

  • Geneva: 2000 W. State St., Unit 1E, Geneva: Hours

  • Aurora, 1200 N. Highland Ave., Aurora: Hours

  • Elgin, 1140 N. McLean Boulevard, Elgin: Hours

  • Crystal Lake, 6296 Northwest Highway, Crystal Lake: Hours

  • Yorkville, 728 E. Veterans Parkway Suite 112, Yorkville: Hours

  • DeKalb, 2428 Sycamore Road, DeKalb: Hours

In addition, Versiti helps coordinate 2,200 blood drives annually at area hospitals, churches, businesses, schools and community centers. For more information on how to host a blood drive, visit here.

Other blood donation centers providing convalescent plasma to hospitals include the Red Cross and Vitalant, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

This article originally appeared on the Across Illinois Patch