MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) --- Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin will add capacity and extend center hours to aid in collections for Texas blood centers.

Officials say as blood centers across Texas plead for help due to recent severe winter weather, Versiti Blood Centers will ship additional donations to Texas at the end of this week.

“It is a truly difficult situation for our counterparts down south,” said Dr. Dan Waxman, vice president of transfusion medicine and senior medical director at Versiti. “The critical need for blood and platelets continues across Texas, which is why we’re urgently calling on our donors to help us help Texas.”

According to officials, Versiti Blood Centers is expanding capacity and extending hours at its centers this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, February 24 – 26, to help collect donations to send to blood centers in Texas at the end of the week.

O-negative and O-positive donors are needed most because they are the universal blood type.

“Texas residents are going through so much right now,” said Waxman. “This is one simple way that we can rally together and show our support. If not us, then who? If not now, then when? Each donation can help save up to three lives, which means that all of us – from more than a thousand miles away – can have a profound, life-saving impact.”

Appointments are encouraged at any of Versiti’s Wisconsin donor centers or at any local community blood drive. Walk-ins are always welcome. To schedule an appointment to donate blood, call 1-877-BE-A-HERO or visit Versiti online.