Blood center in need of A- and 0- blood types

IRON RIVER — Aspirus Iron River Hospital held their second blood drive this year, partnering with U.P. Regional Blood Center out of Marquette. ABC10’s Iron County Bureau reporter Jennifer Farley tells us more.

Giving back to the community can actually be easier than some may think. Donating blood is a mostly pain–free way to give a helping hand to those in need.

Miller said, “I thought it would be a really great idea to be able to partner with them, knowing full well that some of the blood that was donated today, it’s very possible, it could come to this county and to this hospital too. So yes, we had a blood drive from one pm to 5 p.m. here at the hospital, they come around with their blood mobile and we do some registration here in the hospital. It’s nice to see the people that come out to donate.”

The concern with a lot of different viruses popping up, including the Zika virus and west Nile virus more and more is that over the years it is making the screening process more difficult due to the added amount of questions that they are required to ask to see if someone is eligible to donate.

The American Red Cross has pretty standard criteria for donating and the U.P. Regional Blood Center has their own web site if you would like more local information.

Miller added, “That website is really intuitive, it actually shows what blood types are at kind of a mission critical low.”
Right now on the U.P. Regional website they are looking for A- and O- blood types specifically.