Many people are wondering if the American Red Cross is sending blood to Haiti as part of its disaster relief.
Here’s the latest: At the U.S. Navy’s request, the Red Cross provided blood and blood products to the U.S. Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida. That blood was shipped by the Navy to their facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in support of Haitian evacuees and patients.
In addition, the American Red Cross sent a shipment of blood products to the United Nations Mission in Haiti.
So far, the Red Cross has sent more than 100 units of blood and blood products to those locations.
The American Red Cross ships blood overseas, if available, at the request of a foreign government involved in a disaster. At this point, no specific request has been made by the Haitian government for the American Red Cross to provide blood or blood products to support treatment of the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
The Red Cross is meeting the needs of this tragedy through current blood supplies and at this time we do not anticipate the need for a special donor appeal to support our efforts. However, we continue to encourage people to donate blood so that local needs can be met. All blood types are needed but we are in particular need of O negative. Please call 1-800-RED-CROSS or visit us online at
redcrossblood.org to make an appointment.
Matt Gerke is the communication manager for the Missouri-Illinois Blood Services Region.