SAN ANTONIO – Blood donations are already scarce during the summer, but the shortage was particularly acute over the weekend following a wave of trauma cases in local hospitals.
Now South Texas Blood and Tissue is offering incentives to residents who want to donate blood.
Anyone who visits one of their fundraising pages now through Sunday will receive 1,000 rewards points that can be redeemed for a $100 gift card at many different retailers, including Target, Lowes, and even Starbucks.
Of course, you are also choosing to save lives.
One of the most in-demand blood types is type O because type O-negative can be given to people of any blood type in an emergency, while type O-positive is the most common in South Texas.
“We would like to collect at least 600 units per day, but currently we are only collecting 350 to maybe 400 units per day. That is less than we need to supply over 100 hospitals in 48 counties,” said Roger Ruiz, spokesman for South Texas Blood and Tissue.
The blood shortage means that operations are postponed, cancer patients do not receive treatment, and people who have an accident do not have enough blood to have a chance of survival.
The campaign will last until Sunday. The whole blood donation can take about an hour.
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