CHARLOTTESVILLE iWINA) – Today, it’s Broadcasters for Blood, until 7 this evening at the Double Tree Hotel. Today is more important than ever as Central Virginia Red Cross Executive Director Bill Brent says donor turnout the past few months is the worst in 20 years. That despite the fact Brent says more people are actually eligible to give blood than have been eligible in many years.

The American Red Cross is now accepting individuals who spent time in certain European countries between 1980 and 2001 to give blood to help patients in need. The Red Cross back in 2022 made the move in alignment with the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) revised guidance regarding the elimination of donor eligibility restrictions on European travel as it related to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), believed to be derived from mad cow disease.  This makes many military, for instance, eligible who were not who served overseas.

Brent is asking people who couldn’t give in the past to explore the opportunity. Brent notes this is a way to celebrate Martin Luther King Birthday’s “Day of Service”.