By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

The American Red Cross has an emergency need for blood and platelet donors.

The Red Cross must collect approximately 14,000 blood and platelet donations every day for the patients at about 2,600 hospitals and transfusion centers nationwide. Some of the ways blood and platelets are used are for burn victims, heart surgery and organ transplant patients and those receiving treatment for leukemia, cancer or sickle cell disease.

Severe winter weather has shut down more than 300 blood drives across 20 states, which resulted in more than 9,500 donations uncollected. With a winter supply that was already low, the American Red Cross is reminding the public that blood donation appointments can be made quickly and easily by downloading the Red Cross Blood Donor app, visiting redcrossblood.org or by calling 1-800-Red-Cross.