Blood shortage has Red Cross seeking donors

STAFF REPORT

The American Red Cross, facing a blood emergency, is asking all eligible donors to “take an hour and give.”

The summer months are traditionally a challenging time for the Red Cross, and a recent decline in donor turnout has strained the community’s blood supply in the Northern Ohio Blood Services Region, agency officials said.

Blood needs often increase during the summer when vacation travel and activities escalate the chance of serious accidents that may require lifesaving or sustaining care.

At the same time, blood supplies can dwindle as donors become busy with summer fun and overlook giving blood, agency officials said.

The summer blood doldrums also are affecting the St. Elizabeth Health Center blood program, and to a lesser degree, the commercial Biotest Plasma Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

John Fullerton, Biotest general manager, said the number of donors are traditionally slightly down in the summer, partially because some of their donors work seasonal jobs during that time. He said donors can make $50 to $125 a week selling their plasma.

In addition to summer’s being a difficult time to keep up with whole-blood demands for the same reasons at those cited by the Red Cross, the supply of platelets, a clotting agent skimmed from the blood, also can be low, said Suzanne Rinehart, manager of the blood-donor program at St. Elizabeth.

Also, there is an additional need for blood and blood products at St. Elizabeth on Belmont Avenue in Youngstown because it has a Level 1 trauma center, where many of the most-serious trauma patients receive treatment, Rinehart said.

People interested in giving blood through the St. Elizabeth program can do so at the Youngstown and Boardman campuses by calling (330) 480-2595.

The Red Cross Northern Ohio Blood Services Region was below its minimum inventory standards on three of the eight blood types earlier in the week.

The Northern Ohio Region serves 19 counties, including Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull, and needs to collect about 900 units of whole blood a day to meet patient need in 57 hospitals, officials said.

While all blood types are needed, Type O is often in high demand since it is the only type that can be transfused to patients in other blood groups such as A, B and AB.

Hospitals, too, use Type O-negative blood in most emergency trauma cases when a patient’s blood type isn’t known, said Katy Berger, Red Cross spokeswoman.

To encourage blood donations, all who give blood through the Red Cross this month automatically will be eligible to win a $1,000 gas gift card from the organization.

To schedule an appointment to donate, call (800) 448-3543, or visit RedCrossDonor.org for more information.

RED CROSS | Blood donations

The American Red Cross encourages people to donate blood during the shortage. Here are the requirements needed to be a blood donor:

Age: Donors must be at least 17.

Weight: A minimum of 110 pounds and be in general good health.

ID: Donors must present positive identification.

Source: American Red Cross