By Blake Haas
BLOOMINGTON – With a nation wide calling for blood, the American Red Cross Blood Center finished $1 million in renovations that will provide a more suitable area for the need for blood.
With donors giving blood, the main floor is designed for easier access for donors and volunteers for blood and platelets donations.
“We are super excited. Thursday was our first day that the American Red Cross opened our new Bloomington Blood Donation Center at 1 Westport Court,” said Laura McGuire, External Communications Manager for the American Red Cross. “We are just super excited for this new facility. The main floor is now the blood donation center and what that does is allow easier access to the building for donors and volunteers and we are also able to offer more donation opportunities to provide life saving products to the community.
McGuire said with with a nationwide blood shortage, anyone can donate, even first time donors.
“We are seeing an emergency shortage for blood products. We are specifically looking for O positive and negative blood and we are really encouraging the community to come in,” added McGuire. “If you are a first time donor or possibly you have not given in a while we are asking that you take time to visit RedCrossblood.org to make an appointment to give blood. We also take walk-ins so feel free if you are in the area and don’t have the access to make an appointment you can still come in and we will get you in. [By donating] you know that you are helping to save lives not only here in the community, but across the nation as well.”
Since blood and platelets can’t be stored, there will always be a need for blood across the nation. McGuire added that with being in the mist of the summer months, there is a huge need for blood.
“We are not able to stock pile blood due to blood having an expiration date. Red blood cells have an expiration date of 42 days and platelets expire in five days,” added McGuire. “It is so important to maintain an inventory level of at least five days so that if anything does happen we at the Red Cross look to have a five-day supply in our inventory.”
The American Red Cross Blood Center is open on Monday and Tuesday from 11 a.m. – 7:30 p.m., Thursday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
