American Red Cross dealing with national blood crisis

NewsChannel 13 is hearing from the American Red Cross of Northeastern New York one day after the organization declared its first ever blood crisis.

The organization is seeing the worst blood shortage in over a decade.

Reps say the pandemic is to blame for a decline in donations, and the cancellation of blood drives.

But the Senior Account Manager of Blood Services says this will start to impact health care across the area.

"We like to have, ideally, a 5-day supply in our inventory," said Anne Santino. "Right now we’re down to about a day. So this could result in hospitals having to cancel surgeries, or people who need regular transfusions may not be able to get them, because of a low supply."

There’s a blood drive happening on Monday, January 17th, at the Saratoga Casino.

You can register to donate by clicking here.