The American Red Cross is experiencing a national blood shortage. Fewer donors than needed gave this summer, drawing down the national blood supply and reducing distributions of some of the most needed blood types to hospitals. Hurricane Idalia further strained the blood supply with blood drive cancellations and reduced blood and donations in affected areas.
Donors of all blood types are urgently needed, and there is an emergency need for platelet donors and type O blood donors to make an appointment to give now to ensure patients across the country continue to receive critical medical care.
When Idalia slammed into the Southeast – leading to widespread power outages, travel hazards, and flooding – the storm also forced the cancellation of over a dozen blood drives and caused hundreds of blood and platelet donations to go uncollected. This compounded a shortfall of about 30,000 donations in August. Right now, blood product distributions to hospitals are outpacing the number of blood donations coming in.
The Red Cross needs blood and platelet donors now. Schedule an appointment to give by downloading the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org, or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
Marshall Bloodmobiles will be:
Tuesday, Sept. 12th at Marian University’s Ancilla College from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 20th at St. Isidor Hall in Bremen from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 21st at the Knights of Columbus in Plymouth from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 27th at Triton High School from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 28th at the Argos High School from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and at the Culver High School from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
