American Red Cross of Southeast Ohio say blood bank inventory is low

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- The American Red Cross of Southeast Ohio needs your help.

Senior account manager, Lori Gaitten said their blood inventory is low.

“It’s really in a kind of not so good state and its kind of started early,” Gaitten said. “Because Christmas season really hasn’t hit full swing. It’s not a really big thought on anybody’s mind to take the commitment to go out and donate blood. In addition, those regular donors who are making the commitment are coming down sick.”

Gaitten said flu season has an impact on donor turn out. In an effort to increase the units of blood in Muskingum County, The American Red Cross will host a blood drive at Secrest Auditorium on Wednesday, December 28th from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“We will be giving away long sleeve tee shirts to everybody who comes to donate. It’s a nice little incentive to get you to come in and share a pint of your very finest to someone in need,” Gaitten said

“We do have something called rapid pass now. You can go online the day of the blood drive and actually fill out all your health history questions online before you get to the blood drive. Then you can either print it off or send it to your email on your smart phone and take it in. We’ll just scan it and that will eliminate a little bit of time for you,” Gaitten said

Gaitten said they are aiming to get 30 pints of blood from this blood drive at Secrest, every unit can save up to three lives.