Blood Bank of Delmarva highlights donor month, as Red Cross sounds alarm on national blood shortage

DELMARVA – The National Red Cross is announcing a shortage of national blood donations across the US, but the Blood Bank of Delmarva says they are beating the national numbers with their blood supply.

However, an increase in need across the U.S. could see the blood bank strained by their secondary donations to hospitals outside of their immediate service area.

“Priority 1, 2, and 3, are O negative, B negative, and O positive, respectively, they are at 3 to 4 days, respectively, which is not bad, If they were at 1 or 0 days, we would be declaring a blood emergency as well, but we’re not in that position yet.,” said Blood Bank of Delmarva Spokesman Tony Prado.

Prado tells 47ABC that one single car accident could wipe out the supply of blood, and says they are encouraging everyone to donate once as a year New Year resolution for Blood Donor Month.

“We’ll probably see more requests coming in from our secondary hospitals as they seek to make up for any shortfall caused by the national blood emergency, so we’re bracing for that,” Prado said.