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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Iowa, Neighbors Need Blood Donors

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Thursday, January 25, 2018   

DES MOINES, Iowa – The weather and widespread flu outbreaks have created a shortage of blood supplies in Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska.

LifeServe, a non-profit community blood center that serves the region, says December and January are typically the worst months for blood donations.

But LifeServe spokeswoman Danielle West says weather exacerbated the shortage by forcing the cancellation of blood drives and the two-day closure of a blood center in southwest Iowa.

"We like to have a three to five day supply on our shelves just in case the hospitals need it and to fulfill their daily needs and we're really at a one-day or less supply of most blood types," she states.

West says the agency provides blood products to 120 hospitals across the region and adds that donations are needed of all blood types, but a few types in particular are more urgently sought.

West says many people associate giving blood with a natural disaster, but she notes that cancer patients who need blood transfusions following chemotherapy are the primary recipients.

"So, they are the number one recipients – burn victims, trauma victims, anyone who's a having surgery, that's where the majority of the blood we collect goes to at the hospitals," she explains.

West adds that donating a single pint of blood can save the lives of as many as three hospital patients.

She says people may think because they're taking medication or have traveled overseas they're not eligible to donate blood but that's often not the case.

"If you're 18 and older at least 120 pounds, feeling well and healthy that day come on in and give it a try, we will tell you if you're not eligible based on travel or medication but we hate for people to assume some of those things because they change so frequently," she states.

Nationwide, the Red Cross reports that 550 blood drives were canceled in January, severely affecting the more than 13,000 blood platelet donations needed each day.





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