Montana Blood Supply “Critical”

The American Red Cross is warning Montana of a statewide blood supply shortage.

Senior donor recruitment representative with the Red Cross, Scott Shanahan says that the blood supply is "at critical levels  . . . we're at a 1 day supply and we should be at a 3 day supply." Shanahan goes onto say that "People that have voluntary surgeries may have to postpone."

There are lots of factors leading to the blood supply decline, but one of the main reasons is that schools are out of session. Schools make up about 15% of the yearly blood drives and Shanahan says that "when schools are not in session, we usually don't get those donors."

Every 27 minutes a Montanan is in need of blood, but although the demand is high blood donations are at a fifteen year low. The American Red Cross is encouraging all who are able to help it collect the more than 700 pints of blood it must gather on a weekly basis to service more than 30 hospitals and transfusion centers across the state.