Menlo Park blood donation center temporarily closes after vehicle runs into building

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Plywood covers the front of the Stanford Blood Center building on Burgess Drive in Menlo Park on July 17, 2023. Photo by Andrea Gemmet.

The Stanford Blood Center’s Menlo Park branch had to cease operations for a couple days last week after a driver accidentally rammed into an exterior wall of the building.

No one was injured in the accident and the donation center is back to normal operations now, though the damage hasn’t been fixed just yet.

Exterior damage to the Menlo Park Stanford Blood Center following an accidental vehicle collision on July 10, 2023. Courtesy Jenn Bennett.

In the morning on July 10, a 63-year-old Palo Alto driver was turning into a parking spot located at the front of the blood donation center at 445 Burgess Drive, when she accidentally pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake, Menlo Park Police Department spokesperson Nicole Acker told The Almanac. The driver went over the curb and collided with the building.

“There was some damage to the window and the panel below the window,” according to Stanford Blood Center’s Marketing and Communications Director Jenn Bennett. “It was an empty space in front of that window at the time, and there were no injuries inside the building to staff, volunteers or to donors, including the driver.”

Bennett said the driver was a regular donor and was arriving at the center that day to donate.

“It was purely an accident and we’re very glad that they’re alright,” Bennett said.

After the incident occurred, the center closed down for the rest of day and stayed closed through the following day, July 11. Bennett said they were able to quickly reroute any other donors who had appointments during the closure to other donation locations or reschedule them for another day.

Interior damage to the Menlo Park Stanford Blood Center is covered in a temporary plastic wrap following an accidental vehicle collision on July 10, 2023. Courtesy Jenn Bennett.

The donation center did see a temporary dip in its type O blood supply as a result of the two-day closure.

“We were a bit low for a couple of days afterwards, but we put out an immediate appeal on social media and email to our donors, and folks were very gracious and rallied and helped us recoup the supply that we needed at the time,” Bennett said.

For now, the damage to the wall is temporarily boarded over until the center can arrange for a permanent fix. Bennett did not know the estimated cost of damages.

“We have to pull permits with the city and we have a contractor who’s working on that currently,” Bennett said of fixing the building. “We expect that there probably will be a day or two of impacts when the permanent fix goes into place, but we will at that time consider the possibility of opening up for longer hours at another one of our centers.”

The community is encouraged to come out and donate to help Stanford Blood Center maintain their supply.

“All blood types are needed, and we continue to have a critical need for type O blood right now,” Bennett said.