Madison Appeal From The Red Cross

I'm certain this affects your area as well. Please contact your local agency.

Forwarded by Richard Russell

This just in from the American Red Cross:

Hello,

Please forward this message to your employees/members and encourage eligible people to donate soon. The Red Cross has lost [not literally: she means "failed to take in"] more than 800 units of blood since last week due to inclement weather. Hazardous winter weather has caused local blood drives to be cancelled this week, severely affecting the flow of blood donations at the local American Red Cross.

The lost donations must be made up in order to maintain a stable blood supply, but replenishing the blood supply takes time and requires the help of all eligible volunteer blood donors. Type O negative blood is especially needed. Only 7 percent of the population has type O negative blood. Type O negative blood is often used to treat trauma patients in serious need of blood because it can be transfused to almost anyone without first knowing the recipients blood type. This saves the doctors time and allows them to treat the patient immediately.

Yesterday morning we received notice that a liver transplant patient at a hospital in our division was using up to 50 O positive red cell units, 30 fresh frozen plasmas and 8 single donor platelets. That’s just one patient! Thanks to all of your hard work the blood products this patient needed were there.

To accommodate donors and make up for lost collections, The West and East Donor Centers will be open additional hours on Saturday, February 9th. We will be serving fresh fruit at both centers on Saturday.

Hours are:
West Center - 8:00 am - 3:00 pm
East Center - 7:30 am - 3:00 pm

We will be serving Rocky Rococo heart shaped pizzas on Valentines Day, Thursday, February 14th at the West & East Centers.

Thank you for your dedication!!
Debbie Bormann