Winter is a notoriously difficult season to attract blood donors. Holiday travel plans often leave organizations like the Red Cross scrambling to attract donations.
Jennifer Costa, a Red Cross spokesperson, said the state is currently facing the worst shortage experts have seen in over a decade. Typically, the Red Cross keeps a five-day supply of type O blood on hand for the state’s hospitals. Costa said the deficit has become so dire, the Red Cross struggles to maintain a half-day supply. In mid-January, the Red Cross declared a “blood crisis” for the first time in the organization’s history.
“We are now hearing from doctors that in many cases, they’re having to make really tough choices about who gets that transfusion and, unfortunately, who can stand to wait,” Costa said.
Dr. Keith Stahl, associate chief medical officer at Catholic Medical Center, received an email at the beginning of January that the Red Cross would cut the hospital’s normal blood allotment by about two-thirds.
“When the Red Cross first sent out the email, it had us all drop our jaws to the floor,” he said.
He said the hospital has already delayed a number of procedures because the necessary supply of blood wasn’t available. Some critical vascular surgeries, including heart surgeries, are among the procedures that have been pushed, he said.
“We’ve been so focused on COVID and the impact this is going to have while this blood shortage actually has the chance of having a bigger impact on our operations than COVID,” he said.
Stahl said hospitals are used to working with a limited supply of blood. However, he said he has never had to change surgery schedules based on the supply until now.
The current shortage is the product of almost two years of pandemic-related setbacks.
“It’s been kind of this compounding, a slow steady climb for many months,” she said. “And then we just continue to face the relentless issues related to the pandemic.”
Ever since the summer, when cases of COVID-19 began rapidly rising, donors have shied from blood drives (the Red Cross blood drives follow a number of safety protocols to minimize COVID-19 risks). The Red Cross reported a 10% decline nationwide in the number of people donating blood.
Some of the most consistent sources of donations — like universities, schools and workplaces — went remote for several months. Furthermore, she said it has been challenging to hold blood drives, thanks to staffing shortages, inclement weather and sick employees.
Costa said the current plea for blood will likely be met with a short-lived uptick in donations. But she encouraged people to consider scheduling their appointments several weeks from now, or even better, consider becoming a regular donor.
Every day in New Hampshire, the Red Cross needs to collect 165 pints of blood to keep up with the hospitals’ demand. Even the most dedicated donors need to wait eight weeks between blood draws, leaving many slots open every day.
“When the spotlight of these headlines fade, patients will still need you,” she said.
Those interested in donating blood can find a donation site near them by visiting redcrossblood.org or calling 1-800-RED-CROSS.