There is a saying that it's only when you give of yourself that you truly give, and New Mexico is calling upon its citizens to give of themselves — literally.
The state faces a low supply of blood and wants to bolster its reserves by collecting more donations.
“As of right now, hospitals are at about one day’s worth of blood on the shelves,” Evelyn Rosado, communications manager for Vitalant, said in a Jan. 15 KRQE report. “Generally, we like to have about three to four days.”
Vitalant, a blood agency in the state, said supplies are at the lowest level the company has seen in two years. The notion of giving blood has been a higher hurdle for people of late, a trend attributed to the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19.
The lower number of pints in reserve means doctors and hospitals have to be more conservative with respect to how they use the available blood supply as they want to keep some on hand for emergencies.
Vitalant is trying to spark an interest in donations by establishing a contest offering four $5,000 prepaid gift cards this month. All donors who give a pint in January, national blood donor month, are automatically entered in the drawing.
Donations are tested for COVID-19 antibodies. Vitalant has five collection centers in the state.