(HealthDay News) — As a series of severe winter storms this month has exacerbated the shortage of lifesaving blood, the American Red Cross is again urging people to donate.
The storms “hampered our ability to boost critically low blood supply levels,” said Red Cross spokesman Daniel Parra. “Since the beginning of the year, blood drives have been cancelled in nearly every state where the Red Cross collects blood, causing thousands of units of blood and platelets to go uncollected.”
Parra explained that to bring blood supplies back up to normal levels, the agency needs to collect an extra 8,000 donations each week during the next few weeks.
Already, the United States has the lowest number of people giving blood observed over the past 20 years, according to the Red Cross. When supplies are stretched thin, events such as storms can “have a huge effect on the availability of blood products,” Parra noted.
“Donors in areas unaffected by severe weather are vital to ensuring those in need of transfusions have access to lifesaving care across the Red Cross network,” he said.
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