The hospital blood bank at which I work received over 75 donations today, and has over 100 scheduled for tomorrow.  We are overloaded (tonight was a night off, but I went in anyway), and that almost represents a 45 day supply of blood for us.  Some units will be shipped out through American Red Cross, but most will stay in-house (which frees up stock from our local Community Blood Center and American Red Cross to be shipped to New York if needed).  

A couple of suggestions:

1.  First and Foremost--the People in New York City are BLEEDING OUT NOW!!  Your blood donated today won't be there for a couple of days.  It is important to donate regularly, not just when a disaster is happening.  By then it might be too late!!  Keep that in mind in 45 days when you are eligable to donate again, or in 6 months, or before we go into the holidays.

2.  Call your blood center before you go!!  They are probably booked solid with a lot of walk-ins expected on top of scheduled donors.  It might be better for you and them if you schedule yourself for Friday/Monday/Tuesday once the crowds taper down.  The people in NY are going to need massive amounts of blood NOW, and will continue to need large quantities over the next several WEEKS depending on the severity of their injuries and when they go for surgery.  

3.  If your blood (one "pint") is separated into Platelets, Red Cells and Plasma, the Platelets (vitally needed for clotting purposes) are only good for 5 days.  That is one reason why it is important to donate regularly to keep a good supply of platelets on hand.   Consider giving more of your time (over an hour) to donate Pheresis platelets--a machine removes the majority of your platelets (and is the equivalent of 6 to 8 individual donor platelets made from a unit of whole blood).

4.  Encourage others to donate if possible.  Keep a good flow of donors into the donor centers year round (and especially around the holidays).  One of our blood suppliers was still short on stock because of the Labor Day holiday, and the other had finally reached regular stock.  Imagine N.Y. City with a blood shortage going into this attack.  

AFARR

BTT