The call for help came in this week from the folks at the Red Cross in South Jersey. Blood supplies are dangerously low and the Red Cross has a blood drive scheduled for Friday, July 23 in Egg Harbor Township and almost no one has signed up yet to donate blood.

The last time the American Red Cross reached out to us was about a year ago, in the height of the pandemic, when blood donations had slowed in the wake of fear and uncertainty about giving blood during Covid-19.

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A year later, the Red Cross says a rise in the number of trauma cases, organ transplants and elective surgeries requiring blood products has depleted the nation’s blood inventory.

The blood supply in the United States has dropped to the “red” level, meaning most of the nation's blood bank inventories have less than a one-day supply. Donations are urgently needed.

The need for type O blood is especially dire, with less than half a day supply available of type O blood. Type O is the most needed blood group by hospitals and the most transfused blood type.

Type O negative is the universal blood type and what emergency room personnel reach for when there is no time to determine the blood type of patients in the most serious situations.

Okay, you get the point. The Red Cross needs your help with a blood donation, especially if you are type O.

The Red Cross Blood Drive is Friday, July 23 from 1pm -6pm at the Trinity Justice Loge #79, 563 Zion Road, Egg Harbor Township. Sign up to donate blood here

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