Blood Donation Need At Critical Level After Severe Winter Weather The severe (and unusual for many parts of the country) winter weather has created a critical need for blood donations. In fact, here in the River Valley Blood Services Region which includes Central Kentucky and Southern Indiana the weather caused the cancellation of over 25 drives and resulted in the loss of over 700 blood and platelet donations being collected. That's a staggering number and that is just here in the Central Kentucky/Southern Indiana area. That doesn't take into account the cancellations and uncollected donations missed all across the country after last week's severe winter weather that stretched across the entire United States. Because thousands of people rely on lifesaving blood donations each and every day, the loss of those missed donations is staggering and potentially devastating.