During September, local, state, and national agencies encourage citizens to plan for potential emergencies and disasters in their homes, businesses, and communities. National Preparedness Month is centered on raising awareness around the importance of emergency preparedness and empowering communities to act proactively.
Recommended steps from Get Ready Central Texas include:
- Make a plan.
- Build a kit.
- Know your neighbors.
- Stay informed.
At We Are Blood, we have preparedness and resiliency top of mind every day.
We require 200 donations daily to maintain an adequate blood supply and meet local patient needs on a regular, day-to-day basis. However, we can see drops in donations around holidays, the summer months, and winter break. This tends to be because school drives aren’t happening and people are traveling, so they may not be in town to donate. That’s why we consistently need to be proactive and plan for the coming days.
When Disasters Strike
Times our community blood supply can be impacted is during natural disasters, as we have seen with the ice storm and snowpocalypse in recent years. During severe weather, closures have a devastating impact on blood collection and distribution of blood to local hospitals. That’s because we are only able to provide hospitals and EMS agencies with what we have in storage at that time.
Unfortunately, it’s not just natural disasters we need to worry about anymore. Given the prevalence of mass shootings in the United States (the number doubling in the last ten years), it is important to ensure we have enough blood donations available to be able to treat traumatic injuries, like those sustained by gun shot in a moment’s notice. We can’t wait for the next emergency, whether natural or human-caused, to act proactively as a community!
A Proactive Central Texas
Small actions that people take now can save lives during an emergency. One important way you can help create a resilient Central Texas in the face of adversity is by supporting the community blood supply. Making regular blood and platelet donations helps us ensure a safe and sustainable blood supply, providing those in need equitable access to transfusion care when disasters strike.
We encourage you to add “become a blood or platelet donor” to your preparedness list. Or, if you are already a donor, add “make my donation at We Are blood” to yours!
Emergencies and disasters can happen unexpectedly. So, it’s crucial to have a strong and available blood supply to support local hospitals and protect our most vulnerable patients when it matters most.