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Donor Deferral UpdateEffective immediately there is NO DEFERRAL PERIOD for the following:
*As long as healing well with no sign of infection. Donors currently deferred will not have existing deferral periods updated.
We are also open on the second Saturday of each month from 9 AM to 2 PM.
Holidays may impact hours of operation. Please call 254.724.4376 to confirm.
COVID-19 concerns continue to affect all aspects of our lives, yet we need to ensure patients not impacted by COVID-19 continue to receive life-saving care. While the US blood supply undoubtedly will be affected, we are actively working to mitigate serious impacts to our local blood supply and Baylor Scott & White Blood Center urgently needs your help.
Yes. As the number of cases of COVID-19 continues to grow across our country and with the social distancing recommendations in place, our national blood banks are seeing fewer donations. We anticipate the blood supply to tighten significantly unless we take reasonable local proactive measures to mitigate a shortage to ensure this critical supply is available for our patients.
Yes. In line with our new patient and visitation policy in place for COVID-19, all visitors will be pre-screened at entrance points before entering the hospital. In addition, routine blood donor screening measures that are already in place will prevent individuals with clinical respiratory infections from donating blood.
At this time, we are strongly encouraging potential donors to schedule their visits online or by calling 254.724.4376. This will help to minimize crowds and accommodate all potential donors and ensure we maintain an adequate blood supply over time. However, walk-ins will be accommodated as space allows. Donors are asked not to bring guests to their donation appointment.
Our blood supply is provided solely by volunteer donors like you and is used exclusively for patients in our health system. So you can feel confident that your donation is truly helping your friends and neighbors during their time of need.
The Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Temple Trauma Center is a facility designed to help families through any traumatic injury. In addition to the team of experts, there is another aspect to being a Level 1 Trauma Center – blood supply. Trauma cases typically require the need for a blood transfusion in order to treat the injury and perform the necessary surgeries. The Baylor Scott & White Blood Center is the only hospital-based blood donation center in the region, which allows for better access to an immediate blood supply in traumatic or crisis situations.
In addition to a Blood Center, Baylor Scott & White also has several options available for a more convenient way to donate blood.
Schedule an appointment
By hosting a blood drive, your organization will help ensure a stable blood supply and adopt an excellent community service project benefiting the patients in our community.
Walter Linz, MD, Director of Transfusion Medicine states "All blood product donations are appreciated. Apheresis platelet donations are particularly valuable for cancer patients which require a continuous and uninterrupted supply. That can only be accomplished in our area by donations from our patient’s friends and neighbors."
Although our local community has given generously, there has been an overall decrease in number of platelet donors, while, as communicated by the ARC, the need for platelet transfusions has grown at "unforeseen" and "unexpected" rates, at both local and national levels.
Platelets are the component of your blood that is essential for normal clotting function, and they are critically important to the survival of many patients with clotting problems and cancers, as well as patients undergoing major surgeries or organ transplants. With a short shelf life of only 5 days, it is a growing challenge to maintain an adequate supply of these lifesaving blood products.
We need our community’s donations and support to meet patient needs - please consider becoming a regular platelet donor.
While we understand that blood donation is not often done for the accolades, we firmly believe that our volunteer blood donors, and the caring and compassion they show for our neighbors in need, deserve to be recognized and rewarded. Regular and consistent donations are what keep our local blood supply healthy and prepared for emergent situations, and which allow us to care for our patients in their time of need.
We have several ways of recognizing our donors’ commitment and generosity. Check out the links below for more details: