The exterior makes the Big Red Bus a rolling billboard to promote blood donations. Photo provided
By Joyce Reingold
In January, a month traditionally earmarked for encouraging blood drives and donations, the messaging took an urgent turn: The U.S. was experiencing a blood supply crisis, the worst shortage in more than a decade.
“In recent weeks, blood centers across the country have reported less than a one-day’s supply of blood of certain critical blood types — a dangerously low level,” the Red Cross said in a statement made with the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies and America’s Blood Centers. “If the nation’s blood supply does not stabilize soon, lifesaving blood may not be available for some patients when it is needed.”
While maintaining a steady blood supply is always challenging, experts say the coronavirus pandemic has delivered a series of devastating blows to collection efforts, which they are working hard to counteract.
“The pandemic upended the traditional venues for blood drives and there’s no indication when, or if, it’s going to go back to what it used to be,” said Susan Forbes, senior vice president of corporate communications and public relations for OneBlood, the nonprofit organization that collects and distributes blood throughout Florida and in other parts of the Southeast.
“The new normal does not bring donors to the traditional places for blood drives, and that’s an issue when it comes to collecting blood.”
OneBlood’s familiar Big Red Bus fleet is mobilized but, with so many people still working from home, fewer businesses are hosting blood drives. High school and college events, which have accounted for 20% of OneBlood’s collections, have slowed, too. “So, then you have a surge in cases of COVID,” Forbes said. “You put all this stuff together and you can see how that is constantly impacting the blood supply.”
Trying to meet demand
Supply levels fluctuate, but the needs remain. People with sickle cell disease, cancer and leukemia rely on regular blood transfusions. A person injured in a car accident could require up to 100 pints of blood.
“Blood and platelets cannot be manufactured,” the Red Cross says. “They can only come from volunteer donors.”
And that’s the challenge and miracle of the blood supply. In a normal year in the United States, about 6.8 million people volunteer to donate blood.
The Red Cross doesn’t collect blood in Florida, but it does work with local hospitals and organizations like OneBlood to host drives, said Siara Campbell, regional communications director for the South Florida region of the Red Cross.
“During this blood crisis, it’s critical that we come together and roll up a sleeve to help ensure people in our communities receive the care they need,” she said.
A call for change
After the January announcement, the Human Rights Campaign renewed its call for the Food and Drug Administration to remove blanket restrictions on sexually active gay and bisexual men. The FDA is responsible for most of the eligibility rules governing blood donations. One study showed that removing this restriction could increase the annual blood supply up to 4%.
In 1983, during the AIDS epidemic, the FDA implemented a lifetime ban on blood donations from men who’d had sex with other men since 1977. In 2015, the FDA replaced the ban with a one-year period of abstinence and in 2020, to three months. The HRC supports a donation policy that is based on individual risk assessment rather than “membership in a group.” The FDA continues to study the issue.
“The FDA remains committed to considering alternatives to time-based deferral by generating the scientific evidence that is intended to support an individual-risk-assessment-based blood-donor questionnaire,” the FDA has said in a statement to media outlets.
To service the more than 250 hospitals in its footprint, OneBlood needs to collect more than 2,500 units of blood a day. What will it take to shore up the blood supply?
“We need a sustained donor response from the community, from people who are eligible to donate to step forward, do it each time they are eligible, and make it a habit. That will help ensure a ready blood supply,” OneBlood’s Forbes said. “Another thing is to encourage the community to host drives, and to get creative with it because we can roll that Big Red Bus up to just about anywhere.”
OneBlood offers donors incentives like promotional items, tickets and gift cards.
Prospective donors can learn more about types of donations and eligibility, find a collection location, and schedule an appointment by visiting OneBlood.org or calling 888-936-6283. OneBlood has centers in Lantana, Delray Beach and Boca Raton.
Joyce Reingold writes about health and healthy living. Send column ideas to joyce.reingold@yahoo.com.
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