Local blood center seeing dangerously low blood supply

APPLETON, Wis. — The Community Blood Center has severely low levels of blood supply and is now issuing an emergency plea for people to donate blood.

The Community Blood Center serves hospitals throughout the Midwest, including many in Wisconsin.

Dave Brown regularly donates at The Community Blood Center. He said he spends every two to three weeks inside the center to help save lives.

“I guess it just helps me feel good, and it’s something easy to give back that,” Brown said. “Once you give them, they’re just replaced. You don’t give up anything to donate except a little bit of time.”

President and CEO of the Community Blood Center John Hagins said there are not enough people like Brown. Hagins said they desperately need more volunteers because they have too many sparsely stocked blood donation trays.

“It’s not supposed to look like this,” Hagins said. “Usually, we have a seven-day supply on hand. Right now we’re less than a three-day supply. So this is very urgent that we have blood donors right away.”

Hagins said their donations are at critical levels because potential donors have been distracted by the summer.

“I think everyone’s been doing all kinds of fun things and blood donation kind of moves down to the bottom of that list,” he said. “When you’re thinking about all the things you can do during summer. We’re hoping that as we move into fall folks can re-prioritize blood donation as one of the things they need to do to support their community.”

The blood center is seeking all blood types right now. 

“We need about 200 people a day in order to supply our local hospitals. It’s about 1,000 people a week,” Hagins said. “So 1,000 is what it takes in order to keep the blood supply robust and healthy, and make sure that we can meet all transfusion needs.”

Brown donated platelets that’ll help cancer patients, patients undergoing heart surgery or organ transplants, because time is essential.

“I guess it’s easy to always say somebody else can take over, but it’s something that it’s just a pretty easy commitment,” Brown said.

Hagins said three lives can be saved by spending a few minutes giving blood.