Something officials in Orlando said they need after Sunday’s shooting in Orlando is blood. During their regular Monday blood drive at Good Samaritan Health Center in Merrill, Blood Center Director Lisa Purpura told WAOW television that some of the donated blood from Wisconsin is getting sent to Florida. “When you donate blood today, it’s probably Wednesday before that blood is available”. Gay men can only give if they have not had sex with another man for a year. Schools, which provide a substantial donor base, are out; donors are on vacation; and this year, blood banks are also limited by the need to ship blood to areas affected by the Zika virus. It sent 30 units of type O-Negative, and it is ready to send more to Florida if needed. And a day later, the lines around their blood donation centers have not dwindled.
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Those who couldn’t be out in person ordered supplies for blood banks through Amazon Prime’s same-day delivery, and urged others to do the same.
“We’ve had several inquires from people who have never donated with us before, asking about donating at one of our centers”, said a Community Blood Center Supervisor Lisa Purpura.
Currently, only 1% of people who have given blood in England in the last 12 months come from black communities, and only 2% come from South Asian or mixed race communities. Michael said, “The phrase we’ve been using is every drop counts”. That’s because the virus does not immediately show up in blood tests.
Many gay and bisexual men have been turned away from blood donation sites in the days following the shooting because the Food and Drug Administration still has strict rules regarding gay men that were put in place following the HIV/AID crisis of the 1980s. Michael says ” Anything I can do to help.
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As most of the blood collected at Jehangir Hospital is from blood donation camps conducted at various colleges, camps set up by various firms, more than 80 per cent of our donors are below 40 years of age.
