The American Red Cross often faces a shortage of donations as supporters become busy during the holiday season.
By Stephen Finn
The Sun
As the season of giving comes into full swing, the American Red Cross is asking folks to considering donating blood this holiday season.
According to the American Red Cross Blood Services website, it is fighting a blood shortage and is in critical need of donations.
To address the shortage, the Red Cross is holding a number of blood drives open to the public in the area.
Alana Mauger, communications manager for Red Cross Blood Services for New Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania, has some concerns over the amount of blood that has been donated so far throughout the fall.
“We’re below where we need to be,” Mauger said. “We’re at a level where we have to alert the public that there is an urgent need. Donations throughout the fall were not where they needed to be, and we fell short across the country.”
The need right now is especially in holiday season.
“We always have a hard time collecting blood between Thanksgiving and New Years, so we anticipate that to be an issue again,” Mauger said.
According to Mauger, the Red Cross needs to collect around 700 units of blood every day. A trauma case, such as a car accident, can require as much as 100 units of blood. These donations not only go toward trauma cases but are a regular treatment for cancer and sickle cell patients as well.
Mauger said the main issue for the Red Cross this time of year is during holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, people are simply busy don’t think to donate.
“They aren’t really thinking about giving blood and therefore we don’t get enough donations to meet our regular patient needs. It’s not that the need goes up, it’s just that the donations go down,” Mauger said.
There are no alternatives for the Red Cross when it comes to voluntary blood donations. There’s no way to manufacture blood, so it needs to come from volunteers.
There are countless patients who rely on daily blood treatments, so when the supply falls, it directly impacts the health and well being of many people.
“The statistic is every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood, and that’s kind of startling when you think about it,” Mauger said.
A single donation can save up to three lives, according to Mauger. The different components of blood can meet a number of needs. Some patients require the platelets that come from blood, some require plasma and some require the actual blood cells.
When someone makes a donation, the Red Cross first makes sure the local need is met.
“We have 130 hospitals in the Penn-Jersey region that we supply blood to so we make sure that their needs are met first,” Mauger said.
When it comes to specific blood types, Mauger says there is always a need for O Negative, the universal blood type. In the case of a trauma, a doctor can lose precious time testing a patient for blood type so it is critical they have O Negative on hand so they have blood they know they can use right then.
Mauger also wants members of the public to know that giving blood isn’t as scary as it may seem. It only takes about an hour of your time for those make an appointment first. After some simple health questions, a donator’s temperature and blood pressure are taken to make sure they are feeling well enough to donate.
“You’re actually only on the donation table for eight to 10 minutes. It’s not as daunting as people think and then we give you some goodies, snacks and orange juice,” Mauger said.
Donation dates and times coming up in Marlton include:
- Dec. 5 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Dunkin Donuts, located at 900 S. Route 73
- Dec. 17 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Virtua Lippincott Campus, located at 303 Lippincott Drive
- Dec. 19 from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Evesham Branch Library, located at 984 Tuckerton Road
Those interested in learning more can also visit www.redcrossblood.org and enter a ZIP Code to find other drives in and around the area.
