This week’s ice, snow and power outages have brought a significant drop in the number of Iowans donating blood. Christine Hayes, spokeswoman for the Blood Center of Iowa, says their supplies have felt the impact of the wintry weather as fewer people have braved the slick roads and blood drives had to be canceled.
She says they are experiencing critical shortages in blood types O-negative, B-negative, and A-negative, so they are encouraging people to donate, especially with those blood types. Hayes says the lack of several key types of blood is of great concern for the medical community. She says they’re typically in need of O-negative, which is universal and can be given to any patient, but the shortage of A-negative and B-negative is unusual as people with those types just aren’t coming in.
Hayes says one person’s blood donation can help several people. She says it takes just a little bit of time to make a lasting, lifelong impact in a patient’s life. Everyone else can stay home when the weather is bad, but she says hospital patients who need transfusions don’t have that option and need help. For more information on where you can give blood, visit the Blood Center of Iowa’s website or call 800-Give-Life.