By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The American Red Cross is again experiencing a blood shortage, and while the need isn't critical, it is close to an emergency situation.
Executive Director of the northwest Missouri chapter JoAnn Woody says it's currently a tenuous situation.
"We're still not seeing quite the levels of blood donors walking in the doors as we would like, we're not quite in as bad a spot as we were a couple months ago," Woody tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "But we're still in that very tenuous position where if we don't beef up our numbers of blood donors walking in the doors to donate blood, then we could find ourselves back in that very critical space of a blood emergency again."
Woody says since July the Red Cross has seen a 25% decrease in the number of donors coming to donate blood.
Woody says there's a number of reasons why people may not donate, whether it's time or not being able too.
But Woody says for those that are able to donate, the Red Cross asks them to step back and think about how it could affect people in their own lives.
"It's kind of like the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, you can find someone who is needing blood in our personal circles if you step back and look at it," Woody explains.
Woody says even in her role when she really sat back to think about friends and family members in her own life
"And then when I really got to looking at it, it was like wow there are so many people that I know that have had to rely on the generosity of a blood donor," Woody says.
Woody says it can be really kind of scary when you sit back and dig into the people in your lives that have relied on a blood transfusion for a medical emergency.
Woody says a way people can help in getting donations, if there are no events near you, is to call the Red Cross and help set one up
"In a school, in a church, in a community center, you know it's easy to do, it doesn't take much, it's not a heavy lift on the person who has the idea and the facility, Red Cross brings the staff, we bring the equipment and the supplies," Woody points out. "What we ask the blood sponsor, if you will, to help with is the recruitment and just kind of helping to make sure they help get the word out."
Woody emphasizes while it's not a critical situation yet, it is a time where with people back in school and doing sporting events, there's a increased risk of blood being needed.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.