Red Cross Looking for Blood Donations

This is one of the worst times of the year for blood donations. And the red cross needs your help.

Muskingum Valley Red Cross Executive Director, Marlene Henderson, said one unit of blood can save up to three lives.

“If you donate every 56 days please get out there and do so,” Henderson said. “Because we can’t replace that life saving blood that unit of blood can help save three lives.”

The recent storms have also played a role in how many donations the red cross gets. Henderson said school blood drives are vital to stockpiling the amount of blood needed.

“We depend so much on schools to do blood drives this time of year, and of course January and February hit and that’s when all the winter weather started, schools cancelled and if we were scheduled to have a blood drive that would produce 40 to 50 units of blood, those units are lost,” Henderson said. “So we always look for the public to step up and go to other blood drives.”

She said there is always a community drive somewhere. To find one close to you, Henderson said you can visit redcross.org.