'Every donation counts' BLOOD with supply chronically low, banks seek more donors
Blood donors are in high demand, but not everyone can give
Date published: 9/30/2007
BY TESS HAMILTON
What would you do for a new car?
The Mid-Atlantic Red Cross hopes you'll take the time to give blood --the only way to enter its Great American Jeep Giveaway.
The drive, which ends tomorrow, is meant to shore up blood donations at a time of year when the blood supply drops to dangerously low levels. This is the second year that the Red Cross has offered a drawing of this magnitude. A smaller but also enticing promotion will run through the end of October, giving every donor a candy bar and chance to win a trip to Hershey Park.
The Red Cross encourages eligible donors--about 60 percent of the population--to give blood at least three times a year. Every two seconds, the organization says, someone in the U.S. needs blood.
But only 5 percent of Americans give at all. And in summer fewer donors turn out, shrinking the supply even as the demand for blood transfusions increases.
The result? The Mid-Atlantic region--which spreads from eastern North Carolina though central Virginia--has "less than a one-day supply consistently," said Amy Eaton, communications manager for the Mid-Atlantic Red Cross.
With less than a one-day supply, hospitals may be forced to conserve, possibly by canceling elective surgeries to divert blood to critical patients. A mass catastrophe would spread the supply even thinner.
"One major incident would deplete [the entire] supply," Eaton said.
Summer is an especially challenging time to recruit donors because of family vacations, irregular schedules and other diversions. The situation is exacerbated by increased demand for transfusions because of summertime accidents and natural disasters.
"The summer is sort of a double-edged sword," Eaton said.
But maintaining a sufficient supply is challenging year-round, in part because of restrictions designed to keep the blood supply disease-free.
The restrictions exclude people from giving for reasons including their sexuality, travel to malaria-prone areas, and tattoos done in a non-sterile way.
There are emergency protocols in place for shoring up the supply if needed, including getting blood from other parts of the national Red Cross network. But "we never want to be in that situation," Eaton said.
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Each blood donation is tested to determine blood type and to screen for a host of diseases that could contaminate the supply. Donors are notified if any of the tests come back positive. Tests include checks for the following conditions:
syphilis
HIV
West Nile virus
hepatitis B and C
For more information, see americasblood.org.
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| The area Red Cross needs about 600 to 700 pints of blood per day to keep even a one-day supply. The universal blood type, O-negative, is in highest demand. Every pint--the amount given by each donor--can help up to three people when separated into its components. A steady stream of donations is important because whole blood can last only 42 days in storage. "Every donation counts," said Amy Eaton of the Mid-Atlantic Red Cross.
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Date published: 9/30/2007
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