Blood shortage no longer ‘crisis,’ help still needed
MARS — The ongoing blood donor shortage, which was declared a “crisis” by the national American Red Cross in January in the wake of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, is beginning to wane as more donors venture out to give blood, Red Cross representatives said.
“Thanks to the generosity of hundreds of thousands of blood and platelet donors across the country in early 2022, the Red Cross is no longer facing a blood crisis. However, the Red Cross blood supply remains vulnerable,” said Nicole Roschella, regional communications manager at the American Red Cross Greater Pennsylvania Region. “Individuals are urged to schedule a blood or platelet donation to help ensure patients receive the care they need.”
Even as blood donors have returned in larger numbers following the arrival of warmer weather and the removal of many COVID-19-related restrictions, donation is still an ongoing need, Roschella said in an email.
“Donated blood has a limited shelf life, so supplies must be continuously replenished to ensure a sufficient inventory of blood products,” she said. “Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood — a patient battling cancer, a car accident victim or a woman experiencing a difficult childbirth.”
At a blood drive Wednesday in Mars at Old Union Presbyterian Church, blood collections team lead Taylor Anders said donors had stepped up to the challenge after the larger national Red Cross called for help.
“It seems like when we hit the crisis, we got so busy. People really did come out,” she said. “They were scared to come in because of COVID, but now we’re really, really picking up.”
Schools have begun inviting the Red Cross back to host blood drives, which has a significant impact on donation volume, she added.
“We’re going to a lot more high schools now,” she said. “We all go to a high school at least once a week, and one week I had three high schools. We stopped for a while, but now we’re back in, and those are usually our bigger drives.”
The Red Cross lifted mask requirements for blood drives earlier this week, which Anders expects will bring more donors out to drives. The need for blood donation is not a need that will go away, she added.
“I feel we are always going to be short,” she said. “We’re also in a staff shortage, just like everyone else. We do a lot of three-person drives and stuff like that, when there are 30 people on the schedule.”
Three people ran the drive at Old Union Presbyterian. Volunteers from the church helped to facilitate registration.
“We have another one coming in June,” said Vanessa Keil, a volunteer with the church. The church held another blood drive in 2021.
Blood services provider Vitalant also is not experiencing a blood shortage at the moment, according to communications manager Kristen Lane.
“We’re seeing it very gradually. People are beginning to feel a little bit more comfortable going back to their normal schedules, now that it seems like the pandemic is more manageable,” she said. “I don’t want to go as far as to say that it’s over, but it does seem to be winding down. We have seen a slight uptick in people coming back to donate.”
Providers are still wary of the months to come, she said.
“Hospitals are still not back to the level of surgeries they had been at prior to the pandemic,” Lane said. “Because of that, we have not reached a crisis with the blood shortage.”
The advent of summer months often brings decreases in blood donation, she said, because people often travel for vacation and are out of town during blood drives.
“We are gearing up for the traditional summer shortage, and we are anticipating it may be a little bit worse than usual, because people are getting back on the road,” Lane said. “We’re encouraging people to donate at least once during the summer.”
Upcoming blood drives in the Butler County region include one from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 13 at Karns City High School, another from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 23 at Omnicell Auditorium in Cranberry Township, and a third from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 31 at Tier 1 Performance Solutions Building 600 in Cranberry Township.
Those interested in donating can sign up at https://www.vitalant.org/ or https://www.redcrossblood.org/.
