Donate blood, save lives: Red Cross urges donations during flu season

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) – The American Red Cross works with local hospitals to alleviate pain and suffering by providing life-saving blood donations. This season, the Red Cross branches across Eastern Idaho are hosting dozens of blood drives to collect all types of blood and save lives.

Tracy Lund, accounts manager with the Red Cross, said they get their numbers from the local hospitals, who tell them how much blood they need daily. Lund said they have anywhere from 30 to 35 blood drives per month.

The drives usually last about five hours and are sponsored by local businesses. The sponsors and the Red Cross spread the word about upcoming drives and gather people from their business and community to participate.

"My team comes in and sets up the drive out of our Red Cross truck, they take the blood and then we ship it to the lab," said Lund. "Then it goes to the hospital."

The blood drives are organized by zip code, so to find one near you, visit the Red Cross website and type in your code. The Red Cross says your life expectancy can increase by regularly donating blood.

Lund says the Red Cross always needs more blood, no matter the type, time or season.

"I have people tell me all the time it's an emergency or it's critical or a shortage, and I say it always is," she said. "No matter what, we need it. Out of every 100 people, three donate blood. But out of those three, one needs blood. So if you do the math, we're never catching up."

Hospital patients are at severe risk if the institution is low on blood. Having one to three days worth of blood samples from the Red Cross is dangerous if winter weather causes crashes and more patients in need.

"If there's a big wreck on the highway and those people go to the hospital, they won't have the blood they need. So it's really important to donate," Lund said.

She added any kind of natural disaster makes it harder to find blood donors in specific areas. Winter weather and flu season also make it more difficult for people to travel and donate. The Red Cross accepts all types of blood.

"If you think about our culture, we are diverse and we need all kinds of different blood because different people need different blood," she explained. "Some patients who need transfusions need lots of blood every few weeks, but we take all the negatives and positives because people need it."

All kinds of patients need blood, including those who need transfusions, cancer patients, women in childbirth and people who have been in traumatic accidents. Hospitals rely on the Red Cross to provide that necessary blood through their donation drives.