Don't forget: the annual PUMP Up The Volume Salina Community Blood Drive continues today.
The nation is in the midst of a severe blood shortage and the need for donations is more critical than ever.
You can help by donating blood today from noon to 7 p.m. and Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Sunrise Presbyterian Church, 825 E. Beloit Avenue. The blood drive is sponsored by Eagle Radio and its entities: 99 KG, 94.5 Prime FM, KINA, and Salina Post.
Radio listeners are challenged to donate during the three-day drive and vote for their favorite participating radio station. The winning station receives bragging rights and a traveling trophy to display for a year.
Since 2010, the Pump Up the Volume Blood Drive has raised more than 4,125 donations, according to information from the American Red Cross. This year’s goal is 234 donations.
Healthy donors are asked to make an appointment to give at this year’s Pump Up the Volume Blood Drive by using the Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-733-2767 or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device.
All who donate through June 30 will receive a $5 Amazon.com gift card by email. Restrictions apply and are available at RedCrossBlood.org/SummerFullOfLife.
Why a blood shortage?
According to the American Red Cross, a rise trauma cases, organ transplants and elective surgeries requiring blood products over recent months has depleted the nation’s blood inventory. The demand for blood from hospitals with trauma centers rose by 10 percent in 2021 compared to 2019. That's more than five times the growth of demand for blood at other facilities that provide transfusions.
According to information from the American Red Cross, hospitals are responding to an atypically high number of traumas and emergency room visits. Twenty to 40 percent of trauma deaths that occur after hospital admission involve massive hemorrhaging. In these dire circumstances, doctors may need hundreds of blood products, depending on the severity of the trauma, to help save a life, the American Red Cross noted.
Patients who deferred care during the height of the pandemic also are straining blood supplies as many now have more advanced disease progression and require more transfusions.