This week’s winter weather has created a threat to the blood supply in Michigan.

Versiti Blood Center’s Dawn Kaiser tells us the blood supply tends to go down this time of year due to students being off on break, so severe weather that causes additional cancellations can create a bigger problem.

“Not only have we seen a lot of no-shows at our donor centers and blood drives, but we’ve had several blood drive cancellations, specifically high schools,” Kaiser said. 

Kaiser says about 30% of Versiti’s blood donations come via high school blood drives. Therefore, the lost blood needs to be replaced by donations elsewhere.

Considering Versiti provides blood to 87 hospitals around Michigan, when there’s a blood shortage, services at hospitals could be affected.

“If our inventory gets so low that we don’t have enough for our hospitals, we have to tell hospitals they have to go on what we call allocation, which means they could order X amount of units of blood, but we’re only giving them so much.”

Versiti provides blood to Corewell Health South in St. Joseph, for example. It’s asking those willing to help to schedule a blood donation. You can do so at Versiti.org/Michigan. Just click “Donate Now.”

Kaiser says one blood donation can save three lives, and donating does give a donor the chance to get a “mini physical” as they make sure the donor is fit to give.

Versiti operates a blood center at 2710 Cleveland Avenue in St. Joseph.