“They’ll make sure you’re very confident as you go through the process.” “If you’re unsure of what you’re doing going into that donation, that staff will walk you through everything,” said Kesselring. On what health history is needed for an appointment, Kesselring said the “basic things to know” are that one must be at least 17 years of age and at least 110 pounds. “You can also do a rapid pass if you put in your health history the morning of your appointment, which can save you a lot of time at the blood drive.” “On the app, you can see your blood type and when you’re eligible to donate it,” said Kesselring. She added that the app is “marvelous” in that it can also track “vital statistics” needed by the Red Cross leading up to donations, as well as allowing donors to “build up a blood donation history” in the app. While people cannot get the “immediate gratification” of knowing where their donated blood goes due to processing, Kesselring says that blood donors can receive “a type of gratification.” She explained that blood donors can track where their blood goes using the Red Cross Blood Donor App. “The blood still has to be processed, so it’s important that we have an adequate supply at all times.” “You can’t just give blood to your mother right then if she needs it,” said Kesselring. She explained that it takes “three to five days” to process blood to make it “ready and safe” for transfusion purposes. “When someone needs the blood, it’s already too late to donate.” “Sometimes we may not be able to fill a hospital’s entire order, which means that they may not have sufficient blood on the shelf when somebody needs it,” said Kesselring. The shortage will have a “major impact” on hospitals, as Kesselring explained, the Red Cross now has to “closely monitor how much blood hospitals receive.” She added that Type O-positive blood is also “great” because it can be used for any other positive blood type. “Type O-negative is vital in an emergency because if someone was just in a car accident, for example, and the hospital doesn’t have the time to type identify them, they can be given Type O-negative immediately,” said Kesselring. Kesselring explained that having a supply of Type O-negative blood is important for hospitals, as it is “compatible with any other type of blood.”

Those with Type O blood are particularly vital at blood drives right now, as there is an “urgent need” for Type O blood, particularly Type O-negative, at the Red Cross.

“The equipment also becomes unusable in some cases, which compounds the problem.” “Any major disaster cancels out blood drives that we may be trying to have in that period because staff and donors can’t get there,” said Kesselring. Natural disasters such as Hurricane Idalia are adding to the problem, with Kesselring stating that whenever major disasters occur, it really “impacts the ability to hold blood drives.” This number of donations is “a major problem,” said Kesselring, as the Red Cross needs to collect 12,500 units of blood a day to “keep up with hospital and patient demand.” She noted that the main two are increased vacation travel and major disasters shutting down blood drives nationwide.ĭue to the time of the year with many people traveling, she added that the “last thing” on people’s minds was donating blood, leading to fewer than 30,000 donors in August nationwide. On why the shortage is happening, Kesselring said that there are a “variety of factors” that come into play. “So people need to begin to take advantage of local blood drives.” “We were hoping that donations would increase again by September, and we haven’t experienced that yet,” said Kesselring. The urgent need for blood was declared in August at the Red Cross, as Executive Director of the American Red Cross of the Ohio River Valley Sharon Kesselring explained that they started to see a drop off in donations in July with this drop becoming “very significant” the following month.

American red cross blood drive