The American Red Cross is issuing an emergency call for blood and platelet donors. “Right now our blood and platelet donations are being distributed to hospitals faster than they’re coming in,” said Laura McGuire, External Communications Manager for the Red Cross Badger-Hawkeye Region in Madison.
There were about 37,000 fewer donations in November and December than expected, though McGuire said that wasn’t the case in our region. “We’re really not short here at all,” she said. “And due to our inventory we are able to help other regions with our blood donation.”
Snowstorms and severe weather impacted donations. Nearly 100 blood drives were forced to cancel in December, resulting in more than 3,000 blood donations going uncollected. A blood donation typically takes about an hour to complete.