Due to low donor turnout over the crucial holiday period, local American Red Cross Blood Services officials are urging area residents to donate blood to replenish low blood supplies.
\n\u201cOverall, regional blood supplies stand at just over a two day\u2019s supply instead of our desired week\u2019s supply. We have less than a day\u2019s reserve of O negative and A negative blood; critically low supplies of type O negative could jeopardize the care of trauma and other emergency patients unless we see increased donor turnout,\u201d said Jim Starr, CEO, Greater Alleghenies Region.
\nHe added that the number of elective and non-emergency surgeries typically increase after the holidays, adding to the urgency to rebuild low blood supplies.
\nArea residents may donate blood on Friday, January 19 from noon to 6 p.m. at the Tyrone Elks Lodge.
\nIndividuals may also visit the Altoona Donation Center to give blood. The center is open on Tuesdays from noon to 6 p.m. and is located on Kettle Road, two blocks off E. Pleasant Valley Blvd.
\nAlso, individuals are able to schedule an appointment by calling 1-800-Give-Life (1-800-448-3543).
\nStarr attributed low donor turnout to holiday activities and increased travel resulting from mild weather.
\nJanuary is National Volunteer Blood Donor Month, so there\u2019s no better time to resolve to help patients in need by donating blood.
\n\u201cSomeone\u2019s waiting for the gift of blood that can come only from people like you and me. Every two seconds, someone in our country needs a blood transfusion \u2013 365 days a year,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen someone needs a blood transfusion, it\u2019s too late to recruit and collect donations. Sufficient supplies of red blood cells, platelets and plasma must be readily available.
\nLocal residents and patients are among those served through American Red Cross Blood Services, Greater Alleghenies Region. This region directly serves hospitals, patients and donors in a 100-county area in Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, and also supports blood needs experienced by patients elsewhere in hospitals served through Red Cross Blood Services.
\nThe Greater Alleghenies Region of the American Red Cross Blood Services strongly urges anyone who is eligible to give blood to call as soon as possible to schedule an appointment to donate or visit www.redcrosslife.org or www.givelife.org for a schedule of upcoming area blood drives.
\nAlthough giving blood takes very little time and about 60 percent of the people in America are eligible to donate blood, only five percent do.
\nAnyone at least 17-years-of-age, weighing 110 pounds or more and feeling in good health may be eligible to donate blood.
\nIndividuals with donor eligibility questions should call the nursing collections office at 1-800-542-5663.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Due to low donor turnout over the crucial holiday period, local American Red Cross Blood Services officials are urging area residents to donate blood to replenish low blood supplies. \u201cOverall, regional blood supplies stand at just over a two day\u2019s supply instead of our desired week\u2019s supply. We have less than a day\u2019s reserve of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39735\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}