Blood supply at the American Red Cross continues to remain at critically low levels – and officials are imploring the public to sign up to donate blood.
Hazardous winter weather conditions over the holidays and the last couple of weeks have led to blood drives being canceled, meaning nearly 15,000 donations have gone uncollected.
Kimberly Vosseteig is Executive Director for the Eastern North Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota Chapter of the Red Cross. She says upcoming blood drives in the Fargo-Moorhead area are thankfully full – but people are still encouraged to contact the Red Cross to organize their own blood drives if they are able. She says additional donations will be needed in order to sustain them through the shortage.
"A single blood donation can save more than one life. If someone or a loved one is involved in a car accident, or you see that someone on the news has been involved in a car accident - that accident victim could potentially need up to a hundred units of blood. That's the last thing that we need, are doctors and our surgeons needing to pick and choose over priority; we just never know when a loved one is going to go in and need a transfusion. Just by spending 30 to 40 minutes a day can impact many people."
Blood donation is currently at a 20 year low nationwide, meaning that any disruption in donations can have a huge effect on the availability of blood products.