Hoxworth blood drives at crossroads drawing good response

Hoxworth Blood Center, University of Cincinnati has teamed up wiht Crossroads Church for several community blood drives around the Tri-State

By Chuck Gibson (Cara Nicholas, Associate Public Information Officer, Hoxworth Blood Center contributed to this story) 

CINCINNATI, OH (May 6, 2020) – Hoxworth Blood Center, University of Cincinnati is hosting a series of community blood drives in partnership with Crossroads Church to support the Tri-State blood supply in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.

“With schools and businesses closing due to the coronavirus outbreak, as well as cancelling blood drives on buses due to social distancing, Hoxworth has lost thousands of projected units of blood in the past several weeks,” said Alecia Lipton, Director of Public Relations for Hoxworth. “We are immensely grateful for Crossroads’ support and their gracious offer of using their spaces for blood drives, which will allow us to collect much needed blood products for area patients.”

The first in the series of Hoxworth community blood drives at Crossroads Churches was held April 30, at the Reading Rd. location in Mason. Another will be held at the same Crossroads site  this Thursday, May 7. Crossroads has already hosted blood drives earlier this week at three other locations. Monday, May 4, at the Florence Crossroads and Tuesday, May 5, at West Side Crossroads and Crossroads in Oakley. 

“The community has really come out in force to support us,” said Cara Nicholas, Hoxworth Blood Center. “People are looking for ways to help. So far we’ve seen really great response.” 

Monday they had 49 units collected. On Tuesday, that number was nearly doubled with close to 90 people showing up at the two church locations. There are six more community drives scheduled for Crossroads including today.

Here are the remaining blood drives at Crossroads:

Crossroads Oakley (3500 Madison Road) – Tuesday, May 12

Crossroads Florence (828 Heights Blvd.) – Monday, May 11

Crossroads East Side (4450 Eastgate S Dr.) – Wednesday, May 6 and Wednesday, May 13

Crossroads West Side (8575 Bridgetown Road) – Tuesday, May 19

Crossroads Mason (990 Reading Road) –Thursday, May 7.

While Hoxworth is experiencing a very good response currently, they continue to encourage people to make an appointment if they are interested in donating. 

Hoxworth is following social distancing guidelines and taking extra safety precautions to protect the health and wellness of both donors and staff. All Hoxworth employees at donor centers will be wearing masks, changing gloves between donors, and sanitizing surfaces regularly.  Additionally, donor chairs will be positioned to maintain a six-foot distance between donors.

“We have a good showing right now,” said Nicholas. “We’re very grateful people are taking the time and effort to help us right now – people are scared. Just seeing people are really comitted to coming out to help the community is really wonderful.” 

To schedule a donation for a Crossroads blood drive, call (513) 451-0910 or visit www.hoxworth.org/groups/crossroads. 

Appointments are required at this time in order to maintain social distancing protocol.