Just a minute before the blood drive was slated to open this week in the old Dress Barn at Steeplegate Mall, two people had gathered outside at the entrance ready to give.
Typically at blood drives, a small line begins to form at the entrance as donors filter in for the first appointments of the day, said Sue Lang, a longtime Red Cross volunteer.
But recently, the pool of donors had become sparse. Lang, who checked people in at the entrance, noticed that even when all the appointment slots were filled, many people didn’t end up showing up.
The trickle of donors at the abandoned Dress Barn at Steeplegate Mall is a microcosm of a problem plaguing hospitals across the country. Jennifer Costa, a spokesperson for the Red Cross said most parts of the country, including New Hampshire, are facing an unprecedented shortage of blood.
If the high demand and low supply continues, healthcare providers may have to start rationing blood to the neediest, perhaps delaying or canceling nonessential procedures.
In the blood donation community, summertime is a notoriously hard season.
When faced with a choice between vacation and watching blood drain out of their arm, most people opt for travel or time outdoors.
A summer on the heels of a pandemic is even harder. With more people clamoring to vacation, not only are donations down, but travel-related injuries that often require blood to treat, like car accident wounds, are up.
On top of that, patients who put off care during the pandemic are sicker and more likely to need a blood transfusion, Costas said.
This perfect storm of factors has created a shortage unlike any other Costas and her colleagues have witnessed while working for the Red Cross.
“This is the most intense they have felt this shortage,” she said.
Every day in New Hampshire, the Red Cross needs to collect 165 pints of blood – about 1,155 people’s worth – to keep up with the hospitals’ demand. Now, the organization needs an extra 17 volunteers a week to make up for the deficit, Costa said.
Several businesses have come together to try and encourage people to donate. Amazon offered $5 gift cards, the N.H. Hospital Association issued a press release pleading with people to help stop a “critical shortage of all blood types,” and donors who attended the blood drive Tuesday afternoon were eligible for a chance at winning a “Father’s Day grill package” from Ace Hardware.
For many years, the American Red Cross has relied on a small subsection of the population to provide blood. Hospitals lean on about 3% of Americans, who donate again and again, for all of their blood needs.
Lang, type O-, is part of this 3%. She volunteered at Red Cross blood drives for years and donated blood for even longer. The Red Cross app on her phone tallied that she gave blood 107 times since 1978 — a habit she supported with regular iron supplements.
“I just hope they have enough for when I need it,” she said.
Many of the other donors who showed up on Tuesday to donate were regulars like Lang.
Liz Purington and Emily Jerome, who both work at Concord Hospital, came together, as they do every 56 days. They’ve seen subtle signs of the shortage at work – they often need to check blood types far in advance of surgery to ensure there’s enough.
As much as the Red Cross relies on repeat donors like Jerome, Purington and Lang, Costas said the organization is looking to broaden the group of volunteers.
“It’s really about increasing that 3% number,” Costas said.
James Potter, executive vice president of the N.H. Medical Society, who happened to be giving blood at Steeplegate Mall on Tuesday, said New Hampshire hospitals have not yet had to delay or cancel surgeries because of the blood shortage.
But Michael Gilbert, the chief medical officer at Catholic Medical Center, said many hospitals are one bad accident away from considering that option.
He said if a hospital needs to implement a “massive transfusion protocol,” a situation in which the hospital has to rapidly administer large amounts of blood, they may have to reevaluate where to route their limited supply of red blood cells.
He said MTPs can happen as a result of any number of circumstances like complicated childbirth or end-stage liver disease. Just last week, two hospitals in New Hampshire initiated the protocol.
“If that happened at any hospital in the state, that hospital may need to consider postponing elective surgeries,” he said.
Those interested in donating blood can find a donation site near them by visiting redcrossblood.org or calling 1-800-RED-CROSS.