Blood banks across Indiana need O negative donors.
Type O negative is the universal blood type, meaning it can be transfused to any patient.
But only about 7 percent of the population is O negative and that plays into the constant demand for that type.
Rodney Wilson, communications manager for the Red Cross Indiana region, says O negative is used in emergencies that tend to rise during holiday times.
“Also, we see people are busier around the holiday time so they are less likely to donate, we have a lot of schools that are on spring break so we have fewer schools that are having blood drives right now,” Wilson says.
And Wilson says they need a lot of donors every day to keep up with demand around the state.
"Our average daily need is about 550 donors each day to support those eighty hospitals."
The Indiana Blood Center is also urging O negative donors to give blood as their supply dwindles.
The center is part of a network sending blood to Puerto Rico, which is now an active Zika virus area.
