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(WHTM) — The lack of donations could mean an elected procedure is put on hold until hospitals have a bigger supply of blood.
The American Red Cross is experiencing a national blood shortage and needs more people to donate.
“One of the easiest things that you can do to make a direct impact in someone’s life is blood cannot be manufactured and it cannot be stockpiled,” said Laura Burke, Executive Director, American Red Cross Pennsylvania chapter
Blood donations have dropped since the pandemic, and Hurricane Idalia forced the cancellation of dozens of blood drives. The American Red Cross is now 30,000 donations short for the month of August.
“What that could mean for certain patients is that if they have more of an elective procedure or something that’s not considered life-sustaining it could mean that they’re deferred a little bit until we have an adequate blood supply so there are certainly impacts to patients in need when we do experience a shortfall,” said Burke.
The American Red Cross expects to have 12,500 donations daily. These are sent to 25 hundred locations across the US, lately, they have missed that mark, and they aren’t alone.
“The need for blood is constant daily and a lot of these units of blood can only last for a certain amount of time.” Jay Wimer, Marketing Director, Central Penn Blood Bank.
Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank, which sends blood donations to hospitals across the Midstate, is also seeing a decline in donations.
“A lot of times during holiday weeks and times surrounding holidays when we try to import blood from outside of the region, but those blood centers say hey we don’t have any either,” said Wimer.
If you are looking to donate or know someone interested, click here.
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