Versiti Blood Center seeing shortage of blood donations
MILWAUKEE - Versiti Blood Centers are seeing a large blood shortage right now—and they really noticed it after all of the car accidents due to Wednesday's weather.
"The life that you may save maybe someone you’ll never even know. But it can also be a neighbor, family member who needs blood," said Dr. Dan Waxton, the senior medical director at Versiti Blood Centers.
He says they're down 40% of their usual mobile unit blood supply, primarily because of the pandemic.
"Normally, 20-30% of our blood donors come from high schools and universities," he said. "And we’ve had very limited access to those places to have donors donate."
But Wednesday's snowy weather really put into perspective how much blood they need versus what they currently have.
"There's multiple vehicle accidents occurring, an emergency need of blood products all at once and fortunately we had blood in the hospitals that were getting patience, but we had to send more —and that’s what has really put us in an acute shortage right now," Dr. Waxton said.
Dr. Dan Waxton
He says one blood donation could save up to 3 lives — and it doesn’t take much to donate.
"It takes one our of a person's time to roll up their sleeve, the actual donation is 10-15 minutes. And what's naturally coursing through our arteries can save lives," he said.
You can donate by going to any Versiti Donation Centers or they have mobile donation units around the area. any and all blood types are needed.
"This is one hour of your day where you're going to volunteer to do something and you’re going to save lives!" he said.
You can find all the different ways to donate HERE.
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