Airdate: July 11th, 2023
The American Red Cross continues to see a concerning trend – blood donations are being sent to hospitals faster than they are coming in.
The Red Cross has collected about 50,000 fewer blood donations than needed over the last two months.
Donors are asked to make an appointment to give blood or platelets now to avoid a looming blood shortage. Laura Burke, Executive Director of the of the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross appeared on The Spark Tuesday and indicated there isn’t shortage of blood yet, but,”Because we’re seeing this trend of blood donations not coming in as fast as we’re sending it out, we could be heading towards a blood shortage in the coming weeks, which is why we’re doing our part now to encourage people to give blood.”
Burke said there are certain blood types especially in demand,”Red Cross is especially needing type O-negative. O-negative is the universal blood type. So for an example, if you’re in an emergency room, that’s what the emergency room personnel will reach for when there’s no time to determine a patient’s blood type. So if it’s a really serious situation so that O-negative blood is so vitally important. And we’re also asking for type B negative blood. So something about type B negative blood is that less than 2% of the population has this type of blood. People who have B-negative blood. So patients can only receive blood from other B negative donors or that type of O-negative that I previously referenced. So these types are fairly rare. So we’re really hoping to encourage those who have that B negative blood type to make sure you get out and make an appointment to donate.”
If you want to donate blood, call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-733-2767 or online at redcrossblood.org.
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