The American Red Cross declared a national blood supply crisis in late July, only the second time in the organization’s history. The first was in January 2022. WMRA’s Ayse Pirge spoke with local blood banks about how our region has been impacted, and filed this report.
GREGORY MOORE: You usually see a slump during the summer, simply because people are on vacation … but this summer seems to have been worse than the ones in the past. And blood donations were at a critical low.
Gregory Moore is a blood banker at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville – meaning he’s a medical professional who collects, separates, and stores blood for transfusions. He has been in the laboratory field for more than 40 years. Moore says they have not experienced –
MOORE: Any impactful situations here within our facility. One of the strengths of being part of the Sentara group … is that we can move blood around our hospitals, you know, one hospital to the other, and to be honest, we also cooperate with UVa and other hospitals if need be. So, we kind of have a, a little bit of a backup distribution.
While the blood for the facility is supplied by the Red Cross, this cooperation allows the network of hospitals to ease the strain on their source. Moore says they aim to never waste a unit of blood.
Over at the Red Cross Blood Donation Center in Winchester, Deborah Fleming gave WMRA a tour of the facility. Fleming is the executive director of the American Red Cross of the Greater Shenandoah Valley.
DEBORAH FLEMING: Because we’ve been putting the word out there, we have not had a reduced amount in our area. But we still have extra appointments that need to be filled.
Because so many donations come from high school students –
FLEMING: When schools are out, we miss the opportunity to collect that blood. People are traveling more, and so if they’ve traveled out of the country to certain locations, they can’t donate for a little bit.
While blood donations during the summer drop during normal times, the demand for blood during these months often increases significantly, because of higher rates of traumas and accidents.
FLEMING: So, we’re always at a shortage in the summer. But this year, particularly, we’ve had the foodborne illnesses, the weather from … the wildfires… bringing the smoke, which causes people to be sick when they do go out. So, they have to stay in. On top of it, we’ve had flooding. And, so the area has been impacted more than normal, which is why our blood supply has had such a crisis phase.
The Red Cross location in Winchester works to compensate for the reduced blood supplies in places with ongoing disasters.
FLEMING: So, the people in those areas, they can’t get out and donate blood. They’re impacted by disasters, which then reduces the blood supply that they can provide, which then, we need to help make that up for people who are in those disasters, we need everybody out there to try to help, you know, remedy that situation.
In the U.S., someone needs blood every two seconds, and each donation can help save a life. Fleming encourages people, if they are able, to donate.
FLEMING: So, we’ve been putting the message out there, and the community has been responding. But we still haven’t gotten out of this crisis. So, we do encourage people, if they can get out and donate to please do that.
Blood transfusions are needed by many cancer patients, and are also used for trauma patients, people with sickle cell disease, and in childbirth, among other uses.
FLEMING: So, you know, we collect blood here. We send it out, we get it processed. And you know, wherever the blood is needed throughout the country is where it’s sent. So, when parts of the United States are affected, we’re all affected by that.
Fleming says that while most people are familiar with blood types, there is also an Rh factor – the “positive” or “negative” designation after your blood type letter – and other conditions to take into account.
FLEMING: That have antigens that, you know, certain people need certain blood. So, not everybody has the same O positive or O negative blood type. You know, somebody that has sickle cell has a different antigen. So, somebody who has that antigen for the sickle cell, they will be able to supply the person.
Fleming says the network between the Red Cross and hospitals in the region allows them to make the most of their blood supplies.
FLEMING: And it works very well. They’re very efficient.
As for when the national blood supply crisis will resolve, she says it will probably take several weeks.
FLEMING: But when school starts… we have blood drives in schools. So, that’s gonna help out, you know, and I think this is one of those areas where you know somebody in high school can save a life with just one hour of their time. And that’s kind of cool.
Meghan Moynihan is a first-time donor at the center.
MEGHAN MOYNIHAN: I have sort of tried in the past but actually the last time I tried, I went and got a pregnancy test on the way, and learned I was pregnant. And so, it was like, well, I can’t give blood today.
As for what made her decide to donate this day –
MOYNIHAN: I think it was a lot of the information floating around about the shortage. And … I’m pretty sure I have the universal blood. … So, I felt kind of responsible. My sister always donates … and my dad always donated growing up.
Christine Tirpak has been volunteering at this Red Cross location for over a year.
CHRISTINE TIRPAK: My mom was an avid volunteer at the Red Cross. My father was a pilot during World War II. And he was shot down over Germany, and he spent the rest of the war in a prison camp. And it was as a result of the Red Cross that my mother was communicated with, and told that he was alive, he was well, and being supported.
She says after her father came back from the war, her mother gave her time to the Red Cross for the rest of her life.
TIRPAK: And as her daughter, I picked up on the same idea. I started when I was in junior high school, I was a candy striper, which wasn’t through the Red Cross, but it was still in the same genre. And then I actually started volunteering for the Red Cross in my 20s.
And she’s been volunteering ever since – one of many pieces in the puzzle of keeping blood supplies available for those in need.
