American Red Cross is partnering with the Miss Connecticut Scholarship Corporation and Miss Connecticut 2013 Kaitlyn Tarpey, the former Miss Southington, to sponsor a Blood Donation Challenge during the month of February to help raise awareness about the need for blood during this critical time of year. Since the beginning of January, a press release from the Red Cross explained, winter storms and freezing temperatures have resulted in more than 600 American Red Cross blood drive cancellations and nearly 20,000 uncollected blood and platelet donations. In other words, the release said, the number of cancellations throughout January is the equivalent of the Red Cross having to shut down its operations across the nation for more than an entire day. Overall, 26 states and Washington, D.C. have had blood drives canceled because of weather. Despite the winter storms and resulting blood drive cancellations, hospital patient care must continue. Like the emergency room of a hospital, the Red Cross needs to be prepared to respond to patient emergencies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. On average, the Red Cross must collect about 15,000 pints of blood every day for patients at approximately 2,700 hospitals and transfusion [...]
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