For most, longer days and rising temperatures in the spring and summer offer a welcome relief from the cold. But some health care workers tend to feel their blood pressure rising during the warmer months.
As people spend more time traveling and doing activities outside, hospitals tend to report a spike in traumatic accidents – even dubbing the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day “trauma season.” But at the same time, busier schedules mean fewer people are donating blood than usual.
And it doesn’t help that the number of people donating blood has fallen by about 40% over the last two decades, according to the Red Cross.
The nonprofit figures the decline is partially the result of raised hemoglobin thresholds in order to donate, which has led to more “donor deferrals,” and the shift to remote work after the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made it less likely for people to have access to convenient blood drives.
Still, around 25% of trauma patients require blood transfusions, according to the Rhode Island Blood Center. The Red Cross says the average red blood cell transfusion requires three units of blood and a single victim of a trauma can need up to 100 units of blood and a single unit of blood is collected during normal donations.
So, the combination of low donations and frequent traumas creates the “perfect storm” for a shortage of blood and platelets, says Caitlin Grimaldi Flick, marketing and communication manager for the blood center.
Donations this summer have fallen hundreds of units short of what’s needed to meet hospitals’ demands, causing the center to declare its first blood emergency of 2024 at the end of July. Grimaldi Flick says the blood center should have a five- to seven-day supply of blood. The supply has plummeted to just one to two days.
The center’s emergency comes months after the American Red Cross declared an emergency in January, reporting that the number of U.S. blood donors hit an all-time low over the past 20 years.
These shortages can leave hospitals in a precarious position.
“As a trauma surgeon, you get a little more nervous,” Dr. Charles Adams Jr., chief of the division of trauma and surgical care at Rhode Island Hospital, said of the blood shortage.
He says daily operations aren’t affected much because hospitals only distribute blood when it’s necessary and that the standard of care is never compromised. Nevertheless, the fact there’s a shortage of life-saving supplies is unnerving.
“You’re just a little more worried you may not have what you need,” Adams said.
Jack Tanner, nurse director of the neonatal intensive and respiratory care unit at Women & Infants Hospital, also says blood is particularly important for infants because babies don’t start making their own blood cells until they’re a few months old.
“If there’s an infant that would need the blood, we make sure they get it,” Tanner said.
Both Tanner and Adams say the blood center is good about communicating when there is a shortage, and they haven’t seen patients harmed by low blood supplies, although Tanner has noticed more blood emergencies in recent years.
Along with the summer, there is usually a drop in donations during the dead of winter when there is more severe weather and seasonal illnesses such as the flu causing people to cancel appointments, the Red Cross said.
Because of the high demand for type O blood, the Rhode Island Blood Center says the supply of that type is the lowest it has been since the COVID-19 pandemic when there was a sharp decline in donations while people were quarantined.
According to the blood center, type O positive is the most common blood type, accounting for approximately 40% of the U.S. population and type O negative is the universal blood type often used in emergencies.
It’s not clear why blood supplies have reached such dramatically low levels this year, though Grimaldi Flick says there had been a few mass transfusion protocols this year, which have affected supplies.
Grimaldi Flick says blood emergencies help improve awareness about the center’s need for donations. Along with declaring blood emergencies, the center has campaigns to encourage donations like “pint for a pint” in which blood donors will get a voucher for free beer at certain breweries and pubs. The center also hosts daily blood drives and has five donor centers. Donors can give blood every 56 days while platelet donors can donate twice per month.
Tanner says the hospital also hosts blood drives in which employees are encouraged to donate, and people are welcome to donate at the hospital.
In the weeks since the blood emergency was declared, Grimaldi Flick says, supplies of type O negative and O positive are still at critical levels and it wasn’t clear when the blood center would return to a supply of five to seven days.
Donating blood takes less than an hour, Grimaldi Flick says, noting that one donation could save up to three lives.
“Chances are people know someone who needs blood,” she said.
