CHANGES TO DONOR DEFERRAL

The FDA has announced several changes to deferral criteria to help avoid potential blood shortages during this public health emergency. These donor deferral criteria changes will result in numerous changes to donor eligibility. These changes will take blood centers several weeks to implement as they involve changes to forms, systems, and staff training. As soon as CBCO is ready to implement these changes, we will notify our donors and the public.

CONVALESCENT PLASMA

CBCO is working with our partner hospitals to develop protocols for the collection of COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) needed to treat patients in our community. Hospitals will identify qualified donors through a series of questions to ensure they are a candidate for convalescent plasma donation. Those qualified donors will be directly referred to CBCO from their physicians. Development of procedures for collection will proceed over the next several days and will include standard operating procedures for collection, training of staff, and communication with local hospitals. CBCO will begin CCP collections Wednesday, April 15, 2020. If you have questions about convalescent plasma, please contact Anthony Roberts at 417-227-5301 or .

As the local provider of ALL blood products and plasma for ALL local hospitals, it is imperative for anyone interested in donating blood, plasma, or platelets do so with Community Blood Center of the Ozarks.