For the second year in a row, the Red Cross is holding its missing types campaign. Organizers are asking participants to remove A’s, B’s, and O’s, the letters corresponding to blood types from their logos, signage, websites and other platforms to draw attention to the need for blood. Ronnika McFall is with Red Cross communications.
“The Missing Types campaign seeks to raise awareness about the unmet need for blood and how donors can help save lives,” McFall said. “The goal is to inspire new and former blood donors to give this summer and become regular blood donors.”
The Red Cross must collect thousands of donations daily to meet the need. With only three of every one hundred Americans giving blood, McFall says the need remains constant.
“We are also encouraging organizations, community groups and individuals to host a Missing Types blood drive, this summer and throughout the year. Every day the Red Cross must collect about 13,000 blood donations for patients.”
She says the summer months are especially prone to blood shortages.
“When school is out for the summer we see a significant drop, more than 80% in blood donations are typically given in a high school or college blood drive.”
She says the need for blood from those from a variety of racial and ethnic groups is also important.
According the Red Cross, some patients, including those with rare blood types, or those who must have repeated transfusions, need matches beyond the primary A, B, O and AB blood types. Those patients are more likely to find compatible matches from donors from similar ethnic or racial groups.
“For example, red blood transfusions are higher among hospitalized African American patients, yet only four percent of blood donors are African American,” according to McFall.
Participants include Sickle Cell Foundation, AT&T, Amazon, Google, Coca Cola, Adobe, and Pay pal.
To give, using the Red Cross Blood donor app, visit Red Cross Blood dot ORG, or by calling 1-800-Red Cross of 1-800-733-2767.
