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New York Blood Center Urges African Americans to Donate Blood to Help Prevent, Treat Many Complications of Life-Threatening Sickle Cell Disease

Posted on: Thursday, 2 February 2006, 09:01 CST

NEW YORK, Feb. 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- As Black History Month kicks off, New York Blood Center (NYBC) is calling on metropolitan area African Americans to donate blood to help combat the debilitating complications of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), which predominantly affects African Americans. Dr. Charles Drew, an African American, created the world's first blood bank and revolutionized the medical profession through his pioneering research into blood preservation in the early 1940s. Today, NYBC carries on his legacy with the support of volunteer blood donors and through various initiatives, including its efforts to combat Sickle Cell Disease.

Sickle Cell Disease is an inherited blood disorder that affects approximately 80,000 people in the United States, 97 percent of whom are of African heritage. About 1 in 500 African American babies are born with SCD each year. The complications of the disorder are chronic, acute and life-threatening. Young children with SCD are especially vulnerable, particularly to the risk of multiple strokes.

"Increased blood donations from the metropolitan area's African American community is currently the most effective and simplest response to treating this serious disease," said Robert L. Jones, MD, President & CEO of New York Blood Center. "Yet less than 10 percent of our donors are African American. But through continuing aggressive outreach and education efforts that we began last September, we hope to draw attention to sickle cell disease and the incredible need for people of African descent to donate blood." For information regarding blood donation or to schedule an appointment to donate, call 800-933-BLOOD or go to http://www.nybloodcenter.org for donation locations or to schedule a donation appointment.

At present, there is no established cure for SCD, and it is likely there will be none until stem cell transplantation moves beyond the experimental stage. However, during the past thirty years chronic blood transfusion therapy has been found to be one of the most effective treatments for preventing and treating the disease's many complications, including the prevention of primary stroke in young children.

"African American donors can be uniquely valuable to sickle cell patients," said Wendy Geringer, PhD, NYBC Community Health & Research Director. "These patients often require frequent blood transfusions to prevent and treat the life-threatening complications of the disease. But at the same time and as a result of receiving multiple transfusions, many sickle cell disease patients develop immunity to different kinds of blood antigens (proteins) and must receive precisely matched, compatible blood most likely to come from individuals from the same ethnic or racial group."

Verna DuBerry Ademu-John, Brookdale Hospital's Sickle Cell Program coordinator, noted that "our patients will benefit tremendously from NYBC's efforts. It is enlightening providers and the community at large about Sickle Cell Disease and providing information that is critical to the well-being of sickle cell disease patients."

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New York Blood Center (NYBC), one of the nation's largest non- profit, community-based blood centers, has been providing blood, transfusion products and services to patients in New York and New Jersey hospitals since 1964. NYBC includes five regional recruitment, collection and distribution operations in Manhattan, Brooklyn/Staten Island, Long Island, New Jersey and the Hudson Valley. NYBC is also home to the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute and the National Cord Blood Program at the Milstein National Cord Blood Center, the world's first and largest public cord blood bank. NYBC provides medical services and programs (Clinical, Transfusion and Hemophilia Services) through our medical professionals and transfusion medicine physicians.

http://www.usnewswire.com

Source: U.S. Newswire

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