ConnectLife put out a call for donations this week.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The need for blood donations is high right now in Western New York. This week’s weather meant fewer people donating.
In the last week, ConnectLife has had to cancel more than a dozen blood drives and cut a few more short because of the weather, so now it’s your chance to help.
“In the last week, we’ve collected about 290 units of blood. In the same time last year, it was more than 250 more than that, so we are down hundreds of units of blood,” said Zachary Kineke, ConnectLife blood donor communications supervisor.
That blood is vital and needed right here in Western New York.
“It has to come from donors, and when we don’t have places for donors to go, we don’t get the donations in that we need to get to local hospitals,” Kineke said.
Thankfully, ConnectLife had a huge December. People really stepped up thanks to the Sabres ticket promotion. It brought in more donors than they’ve seen in a month in years.
“It was fantastic, but give that a couple weeks, and we run through that especially O-Negative. O-Negative is constantly needed. Every time you guys, for instance, do a story on a car crash, you think about that, you can need up to a hundred units of blood for a car crash victim. And when somebody comes into the hospital, grievously injured, and needs a lot of blood, the first thing they’re going to do is give them O-Negative because they know that’s not going to cause a reaction,” Kineke said.
Besides the weather, people getting sick and going on vacation can also be a reason for lower donations. So if you’ve never done it before, donating blood doesn’t take that long.
“You bring a photo ID, you get a quick physical, you take five to ten minutes in the chair, and then you get some snacks afterwards. Everyone loves the snacks. We’ll send you home with a gift. This month, it’s Bills socks. I know it’s less exciting than it was about a week ago, but we will next month, in February, have Bandits shirts, because I know people can start getting excited that that,” Kineke said.
“You get donor rewards points you can spend in the store on gift cards, on swag, we really want to make sure our donors feel thanked for coming in because you’re giving a piece of yourself to make sure that somebody else in Western New York is going to be able to live.”