In the Friday, Jan. 12, edition of the Butler Eagle, we learned the American Red Cross is warning of emergency blood shortages nationwide.

While it appears the blood supply in Butler County isn’t critically low, the nationwide trend is troubling, and it’s something that nearly every person reading this can help reverse.

The Red Cross, which supplies about 40% of the blood used nationwide, announced the number of people donating blood is the lowest its been in nearly 20 year. That exacerbates existing supply problems, because only about 3% of people old enough to donate blood actually do so.

Statistics from the Red Cross show about 40,000 units of blood are needed every day in the United States: 29,000 units of red blood cells, 5,000 units of platelets and 6,500 units of plasma.

That adds up to nearly 15 million units of blood, but the Red Cross says only about 13.6 million units are collected each year. And that doesn’t account for the fact red blood cells must be used within about a month and platelets must be used in less than a week.

It’s easy to see how shortages can arise.

The drop in donation numbers isn’t new. In 2019, there were more than 53 million plasma collections in the United States, but that fell by more than 10 million in 2020 and 2021, the latest years for which numbers are available.

The blood that is donated is absolutely essential to the survival of patients. More than 15% of the red blood cells donated go toward critical care patients, with another 13% used for surgery and 12% used in emergency departments.

But, as noted above, relatively few people give blood, and that number has been falling. A poll from 2022 showed that while 21% of U.S. adults reported donating blood in 2001, only 15% reported donating blood in 2021.

So if you’ve been looking for a sign about whether you should donate blood, here it is. If you’re old enough and healthy enough to donate blood, please consider doing so as soon as possible.

While local supplies aren’t critically low right now, there are no guarantees, as Kristen Lane, spokeswoman for Vitilant, a nonprofit blood center, noted.

“Hospital needs can change on a dime,” she said. “We never know when there is going to be an emergency.”

— JK