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Red Cross Urges Donations as Blood Supply Dwindles
Thursday, January 16, 2003 — Blood supplies are often low in winter months, due to holidays, bad weather and travel schedules, and January annually goes on record as being one of the slowest donation periods.
As the nation faces a critical blood supply shortage, the blood banking community is urging all eligible donors to schedule an appointment to give blood today.
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This year, however, is even worse. Severe winter storms across the Central Plains, South and Northeast crippled blood collections, which caused a strain on supplies across the United States.
”The situation here is dismal,” said Rhonda O’Banion, public relations manager of the American Red Cross South Carolina Blood Services Region. Located in Columbia, the area missed some of the harsh weather that battered both North and South Carolina in December. However, they did not escape the storm’s widespread implications.
”Even though we didn’t get hit by the inclement weather, it still affected us in several ways,” O’Banion explained. “First, the threat of the storm sent many of our potential donors home. Plus, we rely on imported blood from other regions, but this year those regions, such as the one in Charlotte, N.C., are also facing shortages, so they just don’t have any they can send. These factors, along with several other variables, have left us in great need for Types O+, O- and B- red blood cells.”
The critical shortage in South Carolina is echoed in regions across the country. While optimum blood levels are a seven day supply, the current levels stand at less than one day in some regions, causing some hospitals to postpone elective surgeries.
On Tuesday (Jan. 14), the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), America's Blood Centers (ABC) and the American Red Cross united to make a call to action to all eligible donors across the country.
“Every day in our country, blood is required in hospitals and emergency treatment facilities to save the lives of accident victims, patients with cancer and other diseases, as well as those undergoing routine surgeries,” said Karen Shoos Lipton, AABB's chief executive officer. “Our goal is to ensure that blood is available to patients whenever and wherever it is needed because it is the blood on the shelves that saves lives.”
More than 60 percent of the community blood centers represented by America's Blood Centers have reported inventories of two days or less of Type O red blood cells. During the past two weeks, Red Cross blood inventories have dropped roughly 50 percent and nearly two-thirds of American Red Cross regions have issued some form of local emergency media appeal for increased donations.
To combat the decline, the AABB, ABC and the Red Cross designated January as National Volunteer Blood Donor Month 2003, to encourage donors to give or pledge to give blood. According to the National Blood Data Resource Center, blood centers collected 1.06 million whole blood donations in January 2002. The blood banking community is challenging the American public to increase that number by approximately 5 percent before the end of January 2003.
All eligible donors are urged to make an appointment to give blood today and every two months thereafter to help replenish supplies and ensure an adequate supply to meet patients' needs throughout the year. Donors can give blood every 56 days, or six times a year. In general, donors must be at least 17 years old and weigh at least 110 pounds to be eligible to give.
Those interested in donating blood may call one of the following numbers for more information and to find out where they can schedule an appointment to donate:
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. The Red Cross also supplies nearly half of the nation's lifesaving blood. This, too, is made possible by generous voluntary donations. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. You can make a secure online credit card donation or call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Or you may send your donation to your local Red Cross or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013. To donate blood, please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543), or contact your local Red Cross to find out about upcoming blood drives.
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