DAYTON — The winter storm may now be endangering lives inside local hospitals.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, the snowfall has shut down counties and canceled blood drives.
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News Center 7’s Mike Campbell spoke with Versiti Dayton and the Red Cross of Southwest Ohio about the impacts they are seeing from the weather.
The groups can’t help hospitals when the weather shuts them down.
“We were already down 35% in our blood supply before this storm hit,” Marita Salkowski said.
Salkowski works for the Red Cross of Central and Southwest Ohio. She said the organization controls 40% of the blood supply across the country.
The storm froze many spots, forcing them to postpone planned events nationwide.
“We know at least 200 blood drives across the country that have been canceled,” Salkowski said.
The historic snowfall is impacting the available blood for Dayton-area patients in a big way.
As previously reported by News Center 7, 12.4 inches of snow covered Dayton on Jan. 25.
“There are over 32 hospitals in our region that are relying on us for life-saving blood products,” Tracy Morgan said.
Morgan is the Vice President of Donor Services at Versiti Dayton, which is the former Community Blood Center.
This is only the third time they’ve been forced to close in their 60 years of work.
“So, we lost a total of seven blood drives today, and our center is closed, in addition,” Morgan said.
She said they expect more cancellations, including high school blood drives, since school may not be open.
They need 350 people to donate on a regular basis to meet typical demand.
These storm shortages mean it’s a good time for first-time donors or families and groups to step in.
“We have a saying in the blood business that blood donation doesn’t get a sick day, emergencies, surgeries, they continue, even though it’s difficult for us to operate,” Morgan said.
Versiti said as soon as the streets are clear, they hope people come out to donate.
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