HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Virginia Blood Services shipped blood to help support the hospitals in Las Vegas treating hundreds of shooting victims.
More than 500 people were injured in Sunday night's mass shooting. Many of the patients lost a lot of blood and many needed surgery.
Virginia Blood Services is part of a national network of community blood services, so it shares inventory when there is a need.
Monday, VBS sent hundreds of units of blood to Nevada.
Now, Virginia Blood Services is asking people in Virginia to help replenish the blood banks.
Michelle Westbay, marketing director at Virginia Blood Services, said red blood cells expire in 42 days and platelets and plasma expire in just five days
The need for blood, she said, is constant.
"The blood that we have on the shelve today is what will be used tomorrow. So you never know when a tragedy will occur," she said. "We were thankful and grateful that we had product to send to Las Vegas, and we need to maintain that inventory and replenish the inventory and it's not just national tragedies where we need it, there's personal local tragedies right here in our community that need blood."
