Blood donors to receive gift card until Aug. 30

The American Red Cross has recently announced an urgent need for blood donors, offering an Amazon.com gift card as an incentive to give.

Red Cross blood donations are being distributed to hospitals faster than they are coming in, and as a result, there is now less than a five-day blood supply on hand, Joe Zydlo, American Red Cross external communications manager of the Missouri-Illinois blood services region, confirmed Tuesday.

According to a news release, Type O blood plays an important role in ongoing patient care and emergencies, is the most transfused blood type and is urgently needed.

Type O is also considered a �universal blood type,� which can be given to any patient, Zydlo said.

To thank donors for their giving of whole blood or platelets, Red Cross is offering a $5 Amazon.com Gift Card via email, he said. Zydlo said donors are to wait two to three weeks after the donation to receive an email with a $5-off coupon code to use on Amazon.com.

He also said donors should make sure to provide a valid email at the time of donation.

�That�s any donation, between now and Aug. 30,� he said. �It�s going to go for a full month, and we�re hoping people will come out and donate.�

Zydlo stressed the need for platelets because they are especially important and needed for cancer patients.

The goal is to have at least a five-day supply, he said.

�Any time it dips under five days, that�s when we issue an emergency need for blood and platelet donations,� Zydlo said.

There are two times during the year an emergency need for blood products occurs, he explained. Zydlo usually notices at the start of January, an appeal must be issued because �donations tend to drop and platelets tend to drop.�

�Once we get to Thanksgiving, then Christmas and Hanukkah, people just don�t think of donating blood,� he said.

Similar instances occur during summer months, too, Zydlo said, with people taking vacations. Another factor, he said, is about 20 percent of Red Cross blood drives nationwide � including Southeast Missouri � take place at schools, and with it being summertime, that is not an option.

�We already have to get our inventory; that doesn�t change over the summer,� he said.

Zydlo said donations are starting to pick up a little bit more now, since the appeal initially was issued July 9, but it�s still �been a struggle.�

He said only about 7 percent of people in the country have Type O-negative blood and about 35 percent have Type O-positive blood.

�So we really need those two types,� Zydlo said. �That allows us to do more. It would be great to say, �Hey, we don�t have an emergency need� in the next week or two, and that�s what we�re hoping for.�

He said three weeks ago, Red Cross was �really hurting� for Type O, but it is �getting better� and he hopes the current Amazon promotion �puts us over the top.�

Zydlo explained blood is a perishable product and the donations made have a 42-day shelf life. Platelets are different, though. He said platelets have a five-day shelf life, which is why they are �constantly needed,� he said, and are a necessity for cancer patients and trauma victims.

�We serve about 88 hospitals, so that�s a lot. We�ve got to make sure we meet those needs,� Zydlo said.

Whole blood donation requirements

• Donation frequency: Every 56 days
• Donor must be in good health and feeling well
• Donor must be at least 16 years old in most states
• Donor must weigh at least 110 pounds

Platelet donation requirements

• Donation frequency: Every 7 days, up to 24 times per year
• Donor must be in good health and feeling well
• Donor must be at least 17 years old in most states
• Donor must weigh at least 110 pounds

Additional donor requirements and blood drive locations may be found online at www.redcrossblood.org.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3632