Weather and the flu are taking their toll on the blood supply at the American Red Cross.
The American Red Cross says the need for blood has gone from urgent to critical.
“That is because, over the past month, have seen more than 500 blood drives being forced to cancel because of weather. And that caused a shortage of over 16,000 blood and platelet donations to go uncollected...that’s nationally. So we’re really encouraging people, if they’re able, if they’re feeling good, if they don’t have the flu, which a lot of people do, to please roll up their sleeves and help us out,” said Alana Mauger, the external communications manager for the American Red Cross.
Mauger says all blood types are currently needed, particularly O Negative, which is the universal blood type.
Mauger says in order to meet the needs of patients, the Red Cross must collect more than 13,000 blood and platelet donations.
If you would like to give blood, you can make an appointment today by downloading the free Red Cross Blood Donor App on your Android or iPhone devices, visiting
the agency's website here - https://www.redcrossblood.org/ or by calling 1-800-Red-Cross.
Mauger says there are some upcoming blood donation opportunities.
“You can go to redcrossblood.org and you can type in your zip code and you can find a blood drive near you. We do have one coming up in Wilmington at Trinity Presbyterian Church on February 3. And like I said, you can go to redcrossblood.org and find one near you,” Mauger said.
