The Australian Red Cross Lifeblood is urgently calling for blood donations in the next two weeks, so now’s your chance to do a good deed for the year.
Lifeblood is urgently appealing for at least 16,000 donors to give blood and/or plasma in the next two weeks as supplies drop to critical lows.
All blood is needed, so if you *can* donate (obviously, some people aren’t able to), you should consider it. But O+ and A+ blood (aka the two most popular types) are in particularly low supply, dropping below two days worth of blood.
As you’d expect, two days is not a lot of blood, especially for the most common types.
Lifeblood Executive Director Cath Stone has raised the alarm, flagging that they’ve seen more cancellations and a decline in appointments in recent months.
“As restrictions across the nation continue to ease, it’s essential that blood and plasma donations continue,” Ms Stone said.
“We saw the absolute best of the community throughout the pandemic with donors continuing to come in, however, this recent trend of decreasing appointments and increasing cancellations is concerning.”
She followed up by thanking those who have already donated, and urging those who may not know their blood type to donate regardless.
“We want to thank everyone who has continued to step up and donate during COVID-19. However, the need for blood and blood products never stops so we urge those who can to make blood or plasma donation part of their ‘new normal’,” she said.
“Even if you don’t know what blood type you have, we still need you – we need all blood types every day.”
If you’re keen to give some blood, you can book via lifeblood.com.au, call 13 14 95, or download the Donate Blood app, because it’s 2020 and there’s truly an app for everything.
Go on, give the gift of blood this Christmas (but actually in the next two weeks because it’s very urgent).
