New York Blood Center & Univision 41 (WXTV) Join Forces To Educate Community About Volunteer Blood Needs

New York Blood Center & Univision 41 (WXTV) Join Forces To Educate Community About Volunteer Blood Needs

- Special Blood Drives To Be Held September 24 -

NEW YORK, Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- In commemoration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, held September 15-October 15, New York Blood Center is joining forces with Univision 41 (WXTV) to urge Hispanics and Latinos throughout New York and New Jersey to become life-saving blood donors.

"I was surprised to learn that less than 10% of New York Blood Center's donors are Hispanic and Latino," said Ramon Pineda, VP & General Manager, Univision 41 (WXTV). "Clearly greater education is needed within our community about how many people need life-saving blood transfusions each day. We are therefore very excited and honored to be part of this education effort."

The campaign, entitled "Yo Doy Mi Sangre Por Ti" (I Give My Blood For You) will feature Public Service Announcements and live and taped news segments on Univision 41 (WXTV), which is also sponsoring several blood drives on September 24, one each in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Each drive will also feature on-air talent appearances available to sign autographs and pose for photos.

The Manhattan drive will be held at Ft. Washington Collegiate Church at 729 Ft. Washington Avenue from Noon-5:30PM. The Brooklyn drive will be at New York Blood Center's Brooklyn Donor Center at 120 Lawrence Street from Noon-5:30PM. The Queens drive will be held at North Star Business & Financial Services, 86-05 Northern Blvd., Jackson Heights from Noon-5:30PM. Appointments are not required but can be made by calling 1-800-933-2566 or going to http://www.nybloodcenter.org/.

Daily need for blood -- and from minorities in particular

"Someone in this nation needs a life-saving transfusion every few seconds," reports Dr. Robert Jones, New York Blood Center President. "Our local community in New York and New Jersey alone requires 2,000 volunteer blood donations each day to help save the lives of trauma and accident victims, cancer and surgery patients, newborn babies and so many others. Yet often we find ourselves with blood shortages and must triage blood delivery to area hospitals."

In addition, more donations are needed from people of color, points out Dr. Jones. "In addition to blood type, everyone inherits markers in their blood from their parents, and some markers are only likely to be found within the same ethnic background. Some patients require very precisely matched transfusions that can only be found in a donor of the same ethnic background. We need our blood supply to better match our potential patient population and therefore need more donations from Hispanics and Latinos as well as Asians and African Americans."

"We faced extreme blood shortages all summer," adds Dr. Jones. "We are therefore very grateful to Univision for helping educate a potential new community of donors about how we critically need their donations. Volunteer efforts in this case will help build our local blood supply this fall and literally save lives within the community."

Who Can Help?

Donors must be at least age 17 (or 16 in NY with parents' written permission), weigh a minimum of 110 pounds, be in good health and not have donated in the prior 56 days. They must also meet all Food & Drug Administration donor criteria. In addition to the three specific September 24 drives, a wide variety of donation locations are available during National Hispanic Heritage Month throughout New York City, Long Island, New Jersey and the Hudson Valley. To find the most convenient donation location, go to http://www.nybloodcenter.org/ or call 1-800-933-2566.

New York Blood Center is the nation's largest non-profit, community-based blood center. With the support of five regional recruitment, collection and distribution operations*, New York Blood Center has been providing life-saving blood transfusion products and services to close to 200 hospitals in the greater NY/NJ community since 1964. New York Blood Center is also home to the National Cord Blood Program, the world's largest and oldest public cord blood bank, and the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, a world-renowned center for applied and basic hematological research.

Univision Communications is the premier Spanish-language media company in the U.S. Its operations include Univision Network, the most-watched Spanish-language broadcast television network in the U.S., reaching 98% of U.S. Hispanic households; TeleFutura Network, a general interest Spanish- language broadcast television network; Galavision, the country's leading Spanish-language cable network; Univision Television Group, which owns and operates 63 television stations in major U.S. Hispanic markets and Puerto Rico; Univision Radio, the leading Spanish-language radio group, which owns and/or operates 66 radio stations in 16 of the top 25 U.S. Hispanic markets and 4 stations in Puerto Rico; Univision Music Group, which includes Univision Records, Fonovisa Records, and a 50% interest in Mexico-based Disa Records labels as well as Fonomusic and America Musical Publishing companies; and Univision Online, the premier Spanish-language Internet destination in the U.S. located at http://www.univision.com/. Univision Communications also has a 50% interest in TuTv, a joint venture formed to broadcast Televisa's pay television channels in the U.S., and a non-voting 27% interest in Entravision Communications Corporation, a public Spanish-language media company. Univision Communications is headquartered in Los Angeles with television network operations in Miami and television and radio stations and sales offices in major cities throughout the U.S.

*New York Blood Center's regional operations include: - Brooklyn/Staten Island Blood Services, which distributes blood products to hospitals in Brooklyn & Staten Island; - Hudson Valley Blood Services, which distributes blood products to hospitals in the Bronx and the lower Hudson Valley; - Long Island Blood Services, which distributes blood products to hospitals in Queens, Nassau & Suffolk; - New Jersey Blood Services, which distributes blood products to hospitals in northern and central New Jersey; - New York Blood Services, which distributes blood products to hospitals in Manhattan.

Source: New York Blood Center

CONTACT: Linda Levi of New York Blood Center, +1-212-468-2001, or cell, +1-917-748-1175; or Frankie Miranda of Univision, +1-201-287-8800

Web site: http://www.nybloodcenter.org/

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