The Blood Bank of Delmarva has issued an urgent call for blood donations to help hurricane ravaged Florida.
Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island, Florida took a direct hit from Hurricane Ian - a Cat 4 storm with 150-mile-per-hour winds when it made landfall several weeks ago.
And Blood Bank spokesman Tony Prado says they joined America’s Blood Centers and the AABB Interorganizational Task Force on Domestic Disasters and Acts of Terrorism to react immediately.
“They got together and issued a call across the nation for blood centers to possibly ship blood units to Florida in the wake of Hurricane Ian," he said. "The ability to collect blood in Florida - the Sunshine State - was hampered significantly.”
Prado notes that some blood donation centers were damaged or destroyed by the storm and evacuation orders also limited the ability to collect blood.
He encourages all eligible donors in Delaware to make appointments at the Blood Bank’s four donor centers so it can help boost low inventories in areas in Florida affected by the storm.
Prado says they specifically need help with certain blood types.
“We try to maintain a seven-day inventory for all of our blood types," he said "But if you look at certain blood types - A-negative, B-negative, A-negative and B-positive are perfect - those are at 7 and 7.3-days, respectively. The problem is - the ones most in demand - O-positive and O-negative - those are at 2.7 and 1.4 days, for us respectively.”
Prado says until the Blood Bank can get those blood supplies back up to a 7-day supply, they can’t ship any units to Florida.
Again he’s urging people to visit the Blood Bank’s four donation centers now to fill its low inventories, allowing additional units to head south.
To make a donation, call 1-888-8-BLOOD-8 or log on to DelmarvaBlood.org.
