With Tropical Storm Harvey pummeling the Houston area, Bloodworks Northwest is rush-shipping blood supplies to the area to support emergency efforts. Bloodworks Northwest is asking those who wish to help to stop by its Federal Way location, 1414 S. 324th St. Suite B101, to donate blood.

Donors can schedule an appointment at schedule.bloodworksNW.org or by calling 800-398-7888.

On Aug. 28, Bloodworks Northwest sent an emergency shipment of blood components to the Gulf of Coast Blood Center in Houston, and to Carter Blood Center in Dallas.

When disasters happen and emergency transfusions are required, the need is acute for most-common Type O blood and universal AB plasma. In addition, with flooding disrupting collection across a wide region, the short, five-day shelf life for platelets makes emergency shipments from outside the disaster-impacted area essential. The AABB Inter-organizational Task Force on Domestic Disasters and Acts of Terrorism also issued a nationwide appeal urging Americans to donate blood to help come to grips with the impact of Hurricane Harvey on the nation’s blood supply.

AABB is the international, not-for-profit association representing people and organizations involved transfusion medicine and cellular therapies.

“We’re asking local donors who have not donated recently — regulars and first-timers — to help us restore local inventories by donating this week,” said James P. AuBuchon, MD, president and CEO of bloodworks. “Having seen the images from Houston, we need to be ready to respond if additional shipments to Texas are needed in the days and weeks ahead to help people recover from the devastation caused by Harvey and its aftermath.”