Blood supply low, blood centers urging people to donate

ROCKFORD — Amid a nationwide blood supply shortage, effects are felt in the Stateline, with blood centers having low donor numbers, and are encouraging anyone eligible, to step up to the plate.

“Our local hospitals had multiple traumas [Labor Day Weekend], and took all of our type O negative blood,” the CEO for Rock River Valley Blood Center, Liza Entrikin said. 

“O negative is the universal donor that can be given to anyone, that’s the type that’s used during emergencies.” 

In the U.S. the pool of donors is only 3 percent of those eligible, in the Stateline, that percentage is even lower. 66% of the population is eligible to give, amounting to 1.5 million people. Currently, the RRVBC only has 17,000 active donors. 

“The incentive to give blood is really how good you feel and that you’re giving something back to people that you can’t get anywhere else,” Entrikin said. 

Beth Costa, a current employee of RRVBC, and a consistent donor, donates after her late husband had cancer. 

“My husband had kidney cancer and had his kidney removed… he started bleeding from that surgery and needed six pints of blood that day,” Costa said. 

“The average person has between eight and 12 pints of blood in their body. So if it hadn’t been for six people who were thoughtful enough to take a little bit of time out of their day to donate blood, he would have passed away that day.”

The gift of blood is what gave her and her family an extra year and a half with him. 

National Blood Donation Week is always the week following Labor Day Weekend to encourage everyone to donate, especially because multiple accidents happen during this weekend. The RRVBC is asking those of all ages to donate, taking less than an hour, and can save up to three lives. For more information on blood donations, you may visit the RRVBC website, or American Red Cross website.