SunCoast Blood Centers sends blood to victims injured in deadly tornadoes

BRADENTON, Fla. - SunCoast Blood Centers is stepping up to help with reliefs efforts in areas of the Midwest hit hard from Friday's deadly tornadoes. By Saturday, they packed up blood and sent it to areas the hardest hit by the storms.

People in parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas are still picking up the pieces after deadly tornadoes touched down Friday night. The storms toppled homes, ripped apart buildings and so far are responsible for dozens of deaths and numerous injuries.

"Those are trauma patients. So there's an immediate need for blood because there's blood loss and that blood needs to be replenished in the patient's body," SunCoast Blood Centers Director of Community Relations Steve Malave said.

RELATED: "It looks like a giant lawnmower just went through town," Mayfield resident says

As Malave explains, in times like these, timing is everything.

"We got the call yesterday morning that we need to send some blood. We had some reserves ready to go, and so we shipped it out to the devastated areas," he said.

The SunCoast Blood Centers got the call to help because, as of December 1, they're now part of what's called the Blood Emergency Readiness Corp (BERC). It's a national network of blood centers that help in times of crisis. They're now on a rotating list on-call every three weeks and can be called at any point during that time to help out.

"We had blood on stand by this week knowing that we were on call and the same thing with three other blood banks that we partnered with this week. We sent 10 units of O Positive and four units of O Negative blood out to those devastated areas," Malave said.

Image via Suncoast Blood Centers

RELATED: Suncoast Blood Centers joins national network to bolster 'fragile' blood supply

Officials wasted no time Saturday packing up blood donations and shipping to areas hit hard by the storm. It's thanks to a special network of donors known as the SunCoast Emergency Blood Force who routinely give blood to help in times of crisis.

As Malave explains, the need is huge because as of right only about three percent of people in the U.S. actually donate blood.

"This is just the general state of blood in the country, so we really need people to help us save lives," Malave added.

If you're interested in giving blood, you can schedule a donation by calling 1-866-97-BLOOD or on the web at suncoastblood.org.