THE AMERICAN RED CROSS URGES ELIGIBLE DONORS TO HELP ENSURE LIFESAVING BLOOD IS AVAILABLE FOR PATIENTS WITH TRAUMATIC INJURIES AND OTHER SERIOUS MEDICAL NEEDS BY DONATING BLOOD AND PLATELETS. TRAUMA ACCOUNTS FOR ABOUT 41 MILLION EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT VISITS AND 2.3 MILLION HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS IN THE U-S EACH YEAR. TYPE O NEGATIVE BLOOD AND A-B PLASMA ARE TWO OF THE MOST IN-DEMAND BLOOD PRODUCTS BY HOSPITALS. WHILE ALL BLOOD TYPES ARE NEEDED, TYPE O NEGATIVE CAN BE TRANSFUSED TO PATIENTS WITH ANY BLOOD TYPE AND IS OFTEN NEEDED IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS WHEN THERE ISN'T TIME TO DETERMINE A PATIENT'S BLOOD TYPE. WHILE LESS THAN 7% OF THE U-S POPULATION HAS TYPE O NEGATIVE BLOOD, HOSPITALS DEPEND ON FREQUENT O NEGATIVE DONATIONS TO ENSURE IT'S ALWAYS AVAILABLE FOR PATIENTS IN NEED. TYPE A-B IS THE UNIVERSAL PLASMA TYPE AND CAN BE TRANSFUSED TO PATIENTS OF ANY BLOOD TYPE IN AN EMERGENCY. PLASMA HELPS MAINTAIN BLOOD PRESSURE AND SUPPLIES CRITICAL PROTEINS FOR CLOTTING AND IMMUNITY. ELIGIBLE DONORS CAN LEARN MORE, FIND A DONATION OPPORTUNITY AND SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT BY USING THE FREE BLOOD DONOR APP, VISITING THE WEBSITE REDCROSSBLOOD.ORG OR CALLING 1-800-RED-CROSS.