The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) will conduct its 8^th Annual Blood Drive and Bone Marrow Registry at the 2017 Annual Meeting & Exposition (APhA2017) in San Francisco March 24-27, 2017.

In an effort to give back to the local San Francisco community, APhA is partnering with the Blood Centers of the Pacific, which services all San Francisco hospitals and helps more than 50,000 patients each year. The community-based organization works closely with businesses, community groups, and non-profit organizations to schedule “on-site” mobile blood drives.

Blood Centers of the Pacific processes over 200,000 blood components, and distributes about 145,000 pints of blood and almost 24,000 units of platelets to more than 50 hospitals annually.

APhA is also proud to partner with Be The Match Registry, which offers good Samaritans the unique opportunity to give a life-saving bone marrow transplant to someone in need. Thousands of patients with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases depend on Be The Match, the largest and most diverse registry in the world, to find a life-saving donor. For 70% of these patients who don't have a matching donor in their family, finding an unrelated match on the registry is their only chance at a life-saving cure.

“Sixty-eight units were collected and 24 new potential bone marrow donors were registered at the last blood drive and bone marrow registry,” said Todd McDonald, APhA Director, Meeting Services. “We’re hoping to surpass those numbers at this year’s drive.”

The Blood Drive and Bone Marrow Registry is geared towards annual meeting attendees but is also open to the public! Please consider making a donation and giving the gift of life!