MID-HUDSON – The American Red Cross has issued an emergency blood shortage across New York State, in particular since the Independence Day holiday week saw a significant drop in donations.
Spokeswoman Patty Corvaia said Monday that the agency is comfortable with at least a five-day supply of blood, but the level has fallen below that.
Last year this time, she said there was a 200 unit shortfall of blood in the region and that is down to a 3,000 unit deficit.
“When you take one unit of blood, that gets broken up into three different components, so with one donation, you could potentially help up to three patients, so multiply that 3,000 number times three and that is a significant number of units that we are lacking,” Corvaia said.
In particular, the Red Cross is asking for donations of Type O blood, the most in demand and often the first to be depleted from hospital shelves during a shortage.
Type O negative is the universal blood type and Type O positive is the most common blood type and can be transfused to Rh-positive patients of any blood type.
Click here for a list of donation locations in the region.
