by Andrew Sherman
SPRINGFIELD – The red cross is always in need for blood donations but around this time of the year, the lack of donations happen because of one thing.
Tyler Tharp, donor recruitment account manager of the American Red Cross blood donation center here in Springfield said, “The holidays are tough on us. Pretty much because a lot of people are busy and they don’t have time to come in a donate blood.”
In the U.S., every two seconds someone needs blood and approximately 36,000 units of red blood cells are needed every day. But with the lack of donations, blood becomes scarce.
From November first to the fifteenth the red cross is having a donation drive across barry, christian, greene, howell, and vernon counties of Missouri to stock the shelves to ensure that the blood supply is sufficient through the winter months.
Tharp hopes that having these blood drives before the holiday season will have a strategical advantage for which hospitals will need the donations the most.
But even though the blood drive is only fifteen days long. They will still need blood and platelets afterwards
“We’ll constantly need platelets because there, they only last for five days. So they use them for cancer treatments, they use them for chemotherpy.” Said Jeff Nitz, an employee at the Red Cross. He also said that it’s not only for those things but its for surgeries and blood clot disorders.
Roxanne Sharp, a lifelong donor to the Red Cross, feels that its more personal. She said, “Well, its a life saving contribution to other people. You never know when you are going to need it.”
Ozarks News Brief - Missouri State University 