VIDEO: Eligible Blood Donors Needed, Urged To Donate In National Hurricane Emergency

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — If you're an eligible blood donor, Indiana Blood Center and the AABB Interorganizational Task Force on Domestic Disasters and Acts of Terrorism are urging you to make — and keep — donation appointments as soon as possible in an effort to meet the emergency needs of patients impacted by Hurricane Harvey. According to a release, IBC and AABB especially need individuals with type O blood, as this is the only blood type that can be safely transfused during emergency situations to most patients with a different blood type. IBC said eligible donors are needed during this national emergency as blood drives are cancelled and blood banks are unable to collect due to the continuing flooding and storms across Southeast Texas, which will soon spread to New Orleans.

Andrea Fagan, director of public relations and marketing for Indiana Blood Center, said this week will be especially challenging for our nation's blood banks as the long holiday weekend is coming up. It will also continue to be an emotional one, as seen in the video from IBC below, where Fagan said the Nebraska National Guard came off a search and rescue to deliver this blood, including IBC boxes.

"We have the ability to send our life-giving donations to those desperately in need of relief," Fagan said in a release. "We need your help ensuring the residents of Indiana are aware of and respond to this great need."

Fagan said over the last week IBC has shipped platelets and more than 500 red cells into Galveston, Texas and several Texas blood centers, and collectively, more than 30 community blood centers have provided over 2,000 units of blood. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Indianapolis Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts and LIKE Indianapolis Patch on Facebook).

Fagan adds the pathologist who oversees the lab at University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) reports a liver transplant needing to happen in the next 24 to 48 hours will happen thanks to these extra efforts.

More from Patch:

• Indiana Evangelist Clayton Jennings Plans Donations, Trip To Houston
• Indiana Rescue Crews, Organizations Send Help For Hurricane Harvey
• Harvey's Death Toll Rises; More Misery On The Way

According to IBC, additional units are needed in the coming days and weeks to meet the immediate and long-term needs of patients.

To schedule an appointment and donate, visit:

• Local blood centers: indianablood.org or redcross.org.
• AABB: www.aabb.org; 301-907-6977
• America’s Blood Centers: www.americasblood.org
• American Red Cross: (see above link), 800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767)
• Armed Services Blood Program: www.militaryblood.dod.mil; 703-681-8024

Top Image: Donna Raney is helped out of the window by Lee Guerrero and Daisy Graham after Hurricane Harvey destroyed her apartment on August 26, 2017 in Rockport, Texas. Donna was hiding in the shower after the roof blew off and the walls of her home caved in by the winds of Hurricane Harvey. Harvey made landfall shortly after 11 p.m. Friday, just north of Port Aransas as a Category 4 storm and is being reported as the strongest hurricane to hit the United States since Wilma in 2005. Forecasts call for as much as 30 inches of rain to fall by next Wednesday. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)