Blood and Platelet Donations Desperately Needed Now!

Posted Friday, June 30, 2006

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ATLANTA, June 28, 2006 – The American Red Cross predicts there will not be enough blood for patients to last through the holiday weekend unless blood donations increase immediately. The organization is urging people to give blood and platelets without fail this week or over the long July 4th weekend. Blood drives are planned at donor centers and several malls throughout the weekend.

“Unfortunately, accidents often occur during holidays and there is too little blood available now for hospital emergency rooms across Georgia. With July 4th coming up, the situation will worsen,” says Dr. Krista Hillyer, chief medical officer for Red Cross Blood Services Southern Region. “I can’t state strongly enough the great need for everyone to give blood and platelets right away.”

Because donations fall off during summer, as do the number of organizations willing to have blood drives, the blood supply is dangerously low in June, July and August. During the last two weeks, blood distributions to hospitals have been rationed, and blood has had to be shuttled from one trauma center to another to make blood available to critically ill patients, report Red Cross officials.

“Most people don’t know that their blood donations are not immediately available for transfusion. All blood must be labeled, processed and tested in our labs to make sure it is safe. Blood often doesn’t reach a hospital until three days after it is donated. Only the blood already at the hospital can be used to save lives,” explains Dr. Hillyer.

There is no substitute for human blood and the only source is volunteer donations. To be eligible to give blood, a person must be 17 or older and weigh at least 110 pounds. Most healthy people can safely donate blood, even those with medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and many other common health problems kept under control by medication, diet or exercise.

The American Red Cross collects blood all over Georgia and then distributes it to 140 hospitals in the state. Blood shortages create severe problems in the region because there are not enough blood donations to meet the needs of local patients. Every summer, there is a nationwide blood shortage and surrounding states do not have extra blood to send to Georgia.

Donations can be made at seven blood donor centers in metro-Atlanta, including Midtown, Cobb, Duluth, Alpharetta, Sandy Springs/Dunwoody, South Metro and East Point. From Saturday, July 1st through Tuesday, July 4th there also will be blood drives at several malls including Lenox Square, The Mall of Georgia, North Lake, Town Center, Gwinnett Place and Arbor Place. To learn more, please call 1-800-GIVE LIFE (1 800 448-3543) or visit www.givebloodredcross.org.

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