GOODING, Idaho — As fall approaches, more donations are needed to address the ongoing critical need for blood nationwide.
The need is being felt in the Magic Valley where some hospital officials say it's been hard to keep enough blood on hand over the last few months. North Canyon Medical Center in Gooding hosted a blood drive Monday to give all of their employees the opportunity to donate.
Blood donations took a hit during the height of the pandemic, and as concern rises over a surge in COVID-19 cases, there may again be further challenges to collect enough blood for patients.
“Typically, we keep two units of blood for each blood type in-house,” said North Canyon CEO J Dee Adams. “It has been hard the last couple of months to keep that on hand.”
The Red Cross says the current decline in blood donations is believed to be due to multiple reasons, including the continued effects of the pandemic on blood drive cancellations, donor availability, and back-to-school preparations for many families.
“Any drop we can get is needed and greatly appreciated,” said Jeffery Zillmann with the Red Cross.
Finding out when and where the public can donate blood can be done in few minutes. All you have to do is go to the Red Cross website, type in your zip code, and see the nearby donation sites.
“We get lots of accidents,” said Adams. “We are an outdoor community so a lot of ATV accidents and things like that, and sometimes those can result in people needing blood pretty quickly so making sure we have blood on hand is important to us.”
Giving 20 minutes of time and one blood donation could mean the difference between life and death for someone in need.
“The need is important and we would really appreciate people coming in to help the Red Cross,” said Zillmann.
