Patients’ need for blood doesn’t take a holiday break.

The American Red Cross, blood services providers and health care facilities are asking donors to continue giving blood this holiday season. People undergoing treatment for cancer, new patients whose lives could depend on transfusions and trauma patients in emergency rooms all depend on steady donations for their needs, said Red Cross communications manager Nicole Roschella.

“We’re trying to really get the word out,” Roschella said. “The need is still there for your blood donation … Every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood.”

The need for blood donations applies especially to type O negative blood and platelets, Roschella said.

Type O negative blood often plays a crucial role in emergency transfusions, since doctors often turn to this kind of blood, which is universal, when they don’t have time to match blood types with patients, Roschella said. Platelets provide critical support to cancer patients or people undergoing surgery or bone marrow transplants, since it often helps blood to clot, she said.

Care providers can store blood for 42 days, but platelets specifically can only last five days, she said. Donations of platelets always are needed, because they can’t sit on the shelf for long, she said.

“Remember that blood can’t be stockpiled for long,” she said. “We can’t wait until we happen to be in a shortage, and then there’s this supply of blood waiting for us. We need to continually replenish the blood supply and maintain the blood supply.”

Kristen Lane, who serves as communications manager for the blood services provider Vitalant, said there are typically two times of year that her organization observes a decline in blood donations. One of these lasts from Thanksgiving through January, she said.

But blood donations, which dropped off with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, still haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, Lane said.

“That’s really hurting our organization’s ability to provide local hospitals with the blood they need for their patients,” she said. “It’s kind of a perfect storm of scenarios. Before the pandemic, there were a lot of organizations, and that includes places of business, places of worship, schools, communities that hosted blood drives on a regular basis.”

At those events, Vitalent brought the equipment and personnel needed to carry out the blood drive to the employer, church or synagogue, Lane said. Since then, remote work and new restrictions limit these drives to staff only, resulting in reduced donations, she said.

In addition to travel plans, blood donations decline at this time of year because of unpredictable weather, cold and flu season and the strain on time that results from holiday plans, she said.

Lane said there is high demand for plasma, which helps with a variety of chronic diseases and people who’ve suffered burns.

“Donating blood is really one of the best gifts you can give a total stranger, because one blood donation can save three peoples’ lives,” she said. “One blood donation. One hour out of your time. Your actual donation time is 10 minutes.”