Red Cross unveils new mobile app to drive blood donations

Red Cross unveils new mobile app to drive blood donations

It has always been time consuming if you needed to donate blood as a walk in. Bunch of paperwork that needs to be taken care of by technicians along with the always present waiting game make for a combo that drives away many potential blood donors.

The Red Cross’s Blood Donor app is looking to change that and attract people in more adequate way regarding today’s social trends and technologies.

The application shows times and locations for local blood drives, and allows for easy appointment scheduling.Available for iOS and Android devices, the application shows times and locations for local blood drives, and allows for easy appointment scheduling.

Once you’ve donated and entered your info, the Blood Donor app will track how much you’ve given and when. In some cases, it can even tell you when the blood you’ve donated has made its way to the final hospital destination.

If there’s a shortage of your blood type in the local area, the application can alert you for some extra motivation to donate. And after the process, you can indulge in a little self-congratulation with a selfie enhanced with few basic filters, and spread the good news on social networks.

Foursquare-style badges are available for frequent donors, and so is the ability to join or create local “teams” to dominate the gamified scoreboard of blood donors.

The Blood Donor app also has a database of local retailers offering special discounts to people who have donated blood. So go ahead and use that half price froyo coupon – you’ve earned it.