UNDATED (WTAQ) – The Blood Center of Wisconsin is issuing an emergency appeal for all blood types.
Fay Spano is the Director of Public Relations and says despite being dangerously low on “O” negative blood, they are actually experiencing a shortage across the board.
“Anyone with any blood type, we’re really encouraging people to schedule an appointment. Donors can call 1-877-BE-A-HERO,” said Spano.
Spano says they are down to a one day supply of “O” negative blood, which equals to only about 30-40 units.
“O negative donors, as I mentioned, have a very special capacity to save lives because of the universal blood type. So we really don’t like to see the “O” negative or “O” positive blood get below even a day’s supply.”
Ideally they’d like to have a 2 or 3 day supply of each blood type.
“The hospitals that we serve do have good inventory and good supplies of blood on the shelf but we need to ensure that we have that blood here at the blood center…that those blood donors are coming in the door every day,” Spano said.
The blood center says they hope to see 700-800 donors everyday throughout their 10 centers across Wisconsin but the recent winter weather has hindered blood donations.
Visit the Wisconsin Blood Center website to see how you can donate today.
The Wisconsin Blood Center has locations in Greenfield, Kenosha, La Crosse, Manitowoc, Marshfield, Milwaukee, Racine, Waukesha, Wauwatosa, and West Bend.