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By Amanda Greenwood
Associate News Editor
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The American Red Cross has warned that national blood supplies remain at “critically low levels” as the recent severe winter weather continues to disrupt blood donations.
Why Is the Nation's Blood Supply Critically Low?
The Red Cross said that it was forced to cancel around 500 blood drives between January 23 and January 28, because of the recent winter storm—Storm Fern—that impacted nearly every state that the Red Cross collects blood from.
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This left over 15,000 blood and platelet donations uncollected in just five days, and as forecasters warn of further freezing temperatures and severe wintry weather, more cancellations are likely.
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These cancellations are on top of the 400 cancellations that were made in December, due to bad weather. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the Red Cross said it had seen a 35 percent drop in blood donations over the last month.
Connie Esparza, communications director of the American Red Cross for the Illinois region, told the Chicago Sun-Times: “We’ve seen cancellations of blood drives, appointments have gone unfilled.”
According to the Red Cross website, “snow, ice, and extreme temperatures can make it tougher to move vital blood products across the Red Cross network, affecting deliveries to hospitals in some locations.”
Even though there were around 500 blood drive cancellations, the Red Cross reported that employees and volunteers are doing whatever they can to make sure they get blood delivered to the people who need it—despite the severe winter weather conditions.
It added that two volunteers—Bill Casey and Don Dailey—even spent the night in the Red Cross office in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Friday, January 23 (right in the eye of the storm) so they could be ready to plow snow and ice away from parking lots and roads so blood could be delivered on Saturday.
What Can Americans Do To Help?
The Red Cross is urging those who can give blood to do so, as soon as it’s safe, as any further shortages could disrupt lifesaving medical procedures.
The biggest blood donation shortages concern platelets as well as types O, A negative and B negative, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Eligible donors can book an appointment to give blood either through the Blood Donor app, via the Red Cross website, or by calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
The National Weather Service has forecast that freezing temperatures, snow, and ice could return over the weekend, warning that “another Arctic blast will surge south across the northern Plains Thursday night (January 29), crossing the Midwest and reaching the Gulf Coast Friday night. Confidence continues to increase for significant heavy snow across much of the Southern Appalachians, Carolinas, and southern Mid-Atlantic Friday into Sunday.”
The Red Cross has said that “nearly 1,400 trained Red Cross responders are supporting our response efforts with operations still up and running across 13 states,” although deliveries of blood supplies are likely to be further impacted by this next cold blast.
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