Every two seconds someone needs blood—and winter months make it extremely difficult to collect and maintain sufficient supplies for patients requiring treatment.
Over the past 50 years, January has been celebrated as National Blood Donor Month to help conquer the shortage of blood and platelet donations in the United States.
According to the American Red Cross, nearly 2.7 million people in the United States volunteer to donate blood and platelets every year. However, about 2,500 hospitals nationwide depend on the generosity of blood and platelet donors. The demand for blood donations never stops—which makes National Blood Donor Month a vital time for you to donate!
Today, universal Type O blood is vitally important, especially for trauma and emergency situations when the patient’s blood type in unknown.
If you are unsure of your blood type, simply visit a blood drive or schedule your blood donation to find out. Most people who are in good health, at least 18 years of age, and who weigh a minimum of 110 pounds are eligible to donate whole blood every 56 days. Just one hour of your time could save three lives!!!
Check your ELIGIBILITY and SCHEDULE your blood donation today!
You can also download the Blood Donor App featuring RapidPass® which allows you to schedule and manage your appointments, in addition to tracking your blood donation’s journey every step of the way as it makes its way to a hospital to help patients in need!
To learn more about National Blood Donor Month (#NBDM), visit these helpful resources and share amongst your networks:
Courtesy: The American National Red Cross (redcross.org), ImpactLife (bloodcenter.org), Bloodworks Northwest (bloodworksnw.org) and the University of Washington (thewholeu.uw.edu).