Food, clothing and supplies have been shipped to North Carolina recently in an effort to help people who might have lost their possessions, and homes during Hurricane Floyd this past month.

Tuesday, September 28, 1999

Food, clothing and supplies have been shipped to North Carolina recently in an effort to help people who might have lost their possessions, and homes during Hurricane Floyd this past month.

What most people might not realize, however, is that extra supplies of blood also have been shipped to North Carolina’s hospitals.

This additional need has emptied the reserve supplies of the American Red Cross, which means the Tri-State Region Blood Services cannot ask for additional units to bolster the Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky supplies.

And the area needs additional blood supplies. A lull in donations has nearly depleted the agency’s reserves. The organization only has enough blood each day for that day.

This past Saturday, members of The Loyal Order of the Moose in Ironton set up a blood drive. But the donations given that day were not nearly enough to reverse the area’s blood deficit.

Tri State Region Blood Services supplies blood to 29 different hospitals in the West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky areas.

They need at least 240 donors a day to fill this need.

Anyone over the age of 17 may give blood as long as they weigh more than 105 pounds, are in good general health and have not donated blood within the past 56 days.

All blood types are needed, but there is an especially critical need for types O positive and O negative, which are the universal blood types.

It should not take more than an hour to donate blood, and an appointment may be scheduled at the King’s Daughters’ Medical Center facility in Ashland, Ky., by calling 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.

Without the help of area residents, supplies will continue to dwindle. And, remember, it could be you, or someone you care about, that needs the next unit of blood.