United States: The American Red Cross is constantly facing a serious blood shortage because their supply has dropped by more than 25% since the beginning of this month.
Impact of the Extreme Heat
Extreme heat and heat waves last month caused many blood drives to be cancelled or have fewer people attend, impacting almost every state where the Red Cross collects blood although this could be really
Normally, blood donations slowdown in the summer due to travel and other activities, but this year’s extreme heat made the situation worse, leading to a shortfall of over 19,000 donations in July. As a result, blood is being used by hospitals faster than it can be collected

Critical Need for Donors
Donated blood is specifically used in a range of the essential and lifesaving medical treatments including during the operations and the childbirths, and the Red Cross has said the donations help to save the lives of the women with pregnancy complications, patients with some traumatic injuries and the people fighting cancer and blood disorders among others.
“Working with patients who critically need a blood transfusion, I can’t imagine blood not being available for someone I cared about and needed it, especially a new mom or an infant that was needing a transfusion,” Melissa Destross, a registered or can say official nurse in the labour and delivery unit at a hospital in Detroit, said in a particular statement “I’ve seen moms in a haemorrhage situation, post-delivery, have massive blood transfusions, like blood losses over seven litres.”
Urgent Call for Type O Blood
The Red Cross said the blood donors of all the types but especially those with type O blood type and type O is negative is the universal blood type needed for the emergency transfusions.
“Type O is especially important for people injured in accidents and other trauma who receive emergency care,” Dr. Barry Siegfried, medical director of the Red Cross Michigan Region, said in a statement. “Donors of all blood types can help ensure hospital shelves are restocked to prevent patient care from being impacted.”
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