Blood emergency announced, community urged to donate

The Community Blood Center announced a blood emergency Sept. 14 after finding there are not enough blood products available to meet the needs of the patients.

The blood products at the Community Blood Center reached a one-day supply; this means that there are only blood products available that would suffice a single day’s needs. Since then, the supply has gone up, and it is now sitting at two to three days of supplies, but it is still less than needed.

A seven to 10 day supply of blood products available to the 70 hospitals that the Community Blood Center services is needed for the blood emergency to end. Chelsey Smith, the director of public relations at the Community Blood Center, said, since the pandemic, it has not exceeded a five-day supply.

“Post-pandemic, our entire country has struggled to get our donors donating again, and that has resulted in, essentially, a chronic blood shortage,” Smith said. 

The only way this problem can be fixed is if more people start donating blood. 

Once someone signs up to donate, the process is about 45 minutes to an hour long. While there, the donor will go through a process of filling out health information and having a checkup with a nurse or doctor to make sure they are eligible to give blood. After this, they will be set up in a chair and will give blood for about 10-15 minutes. Once they are done, they will be provided with snacks so their body has the sugars it needs to replenish the blood they just gave.

Smith said this process is pretty much painless compared to when someone might go in to get a blood test. She said she believes people don’t need to worry about it as much as they might before they come in.

“Blood donation is an incredibly simple and incredibly easy process, and most of the time people freak themselves out when they come in to donate and by the time they actually do come in they are like ‘Wow, that was really easy and not a big deal,’” Smith said. “Our staff are well trained — they do this day in and day out. When I donate, I can barely even feel the needle.”

Since there have not been enough donors and blood products on the shelves, there is a list of concerns that hospitals and medical centers have to make plans for. Bridget Kenny, a community health nurse liaison at the Mosaic Medical Center – Maryville, said if there were to be an emergency, it would first use the blood that it stores at the medical center. Then, if needed, the Community Blood Center would send extra supply. 

It is a concern that the Community Blood Center has a low blood product supply because of the 70 hospitals it supplies blood to. Smith said blood donors are critical in helping with this situation.

“Blood donors are the only people who can help save the lives of our patients in our community who need blood transfusions. So we hope that anyone hearing this message would set aside their fears, give it a try and see how easy it is for themselves,” Smith said.

The next blood drive, hosted by the Community Blood Center, will be 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 18-21 in the Tower View Room in the J.W. Jones Student Union.