The American Red Cross is warning that the nation’s blood supply is approaching a critical point as donations have been the lowest this summer in the last four years.
Dr. Courtney Lawrence, divisional chief medical officer for the Red Cross, said the organization is “days away from a real crisis situation across the country.”
The decline comes during the summer, which the Red Cross considers a high-trauma season because more people are traveling and spending time outdoors, increasing the potential for crashes, injuries and other emergencies that may require blood transfusions.
The Red Cross said the national shortage is being driven by both increased demand and fewer people donating. Lawrence said hospitals are requesting about 3,500 more units of blood each week than the Red Cross anticipated for this time of year.
“When there aren’t enough blood units on the shelf, doctors have to make difficult decisions about who receives blood immediately and who may have to wait,” Lawrence said. “That can mean elective surgeries are postponed, or patients whose need isn’t necessarily life-threatening but whose transfusions improve their quality of life and help keep them out of the hospital may have to wait.”
But Missouri blood centers say they have not reached the point of issuing an emergency appeal yet but are watching closely.
Michelle Teter, media relations representative for Community Blood Center of the Ozarks, which supplies blood, plasma and platelets to 44 hospitals in southwest Missouri, northwest Arkansas and southeast Kansas, said the center’s supply has remained steady so far this summer.
“We currently are not in an emergency appeal,” Teter said. “We are holding steady on our local blood supply at this time.”
The center needs about 200 units of blood each day and collects donations through four collection centers across its service area, Teter said.
Still, she said blood supplies can change quickly.
“Something could happen in a week and it changes,” Teter said. “It’s kind of a week-by-week basis.”
Younger donors are missing from blood drives
One concern for blood centers is the decline in younger donors, particularly during the summer months when schools are closed.
Teter said younger donors historically account for about 40% of the center’s blood collection. With schools out, the center is seeing fewer young people donate and is relying more heavily on its established base of older donors.
The trend is not limited to Missouri.
Lawrence said the Red Cross saw a decline in younger adolescent and young adult donors during the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath.
ImpactLife, a blood center serving several Midwestern states, including central Missouri, has seen a similar trend.
Alex Burkamper, a community development advocate with ImpactLife, said the center has seen fewer donors ages 18 to 29, particularly since the pandemic.
“We did see a dip in donations, particularly from Gen Z and our high school donors after the COVID-19 pandemic,” Burkamper said.
Many high schools shifted to virtual learning during the pandemic and stopped hosting blood drives. Even after schools resumed in-person activities, Burkamper said, blood drives have not returned to their previous size.
“The blood drives that we’ve had with high schools since we’ve returned ... haven’t been as large as they were,” Burkamper said. “They’ve dropped in size by a considerable margin.”
The Red Cross has not seen a significant increase in canceled blood drives this summer compared with previous years. Instead, Lawrence said, fewer appointments are being booked at existing drives. They also saw a decrease in Black American donors and the organization has urged people to show up for donation.
