Alabama hospitals issue urgent plea for blood donations as supplies dwindle
Hospitals in Alabama need blood. It’s essential to save lives, but right now, there isn’t enough to meet demands.
“We're in a very precarious situation,” Alabama Hospital Association president Dr. Don Williamson said. “We've certainly got places in the state that if we had a major trauma event, we would be very, very seriously challenged to be able to have enough blood to respond to that.”
While the scarcity of blood concerns the entire state, Williamson said he worries most about trauma centers such as Baptist South in Montgomery, East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika and UAB Hospital in Birmingham.
AMERICAN RED CROSS: Check here for a nearby location or make an appointment
LIFESOUTH COMMUNITY BLOOD CENTERS: Find out more about donating blood
“That's where patients are going to get routed to, and so those are the places where the blood shortage is going to be most dire,” he said.
The largest blood supplier in the state, LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, had less than a full day’s supply of O negative on hand in Alabama as of Tuesday morning. Williamson called O negative the “shock absorber” for trauma events.
Because a person with O negative blood is known as the universal donor, the American Red Cross says it is usually the first type to run out during a shortage.
Including all types of blood, Alabama has, at most, a four-day reserve, Williamson said.
The situation first became problematic in November but has worsened to the point where doctors are calling it the worst shortage in the last decade.
Evidently, the shortage is another consequence of two years in the COVID pandemic. The Red Cross reports a 10% decline in the number of people donating blood since the pandemic began and a 62% drop in blood drives at schools and colleges.
A lack of staffing may be a contributing factor as well.
“The current shortage is critical. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen in years,” CEO and president of East Alabama Medical Center Laura Grill said.
Grill joined five other Alabama hospital executives in an urgent call for blood donations on Tuesday. The Alabama Hospital Association distributed the video on social media.
“Having an adequate supply of blood is essential to providing care to some of our sickest and most vulnerable patients, and right now, we simply don’t have enough,” Dothan’s Flowers Hospital CEO Jeff Brannon said.
The lack of supply sometimes forces doctors into the position of deciding which patients will receive immediate transfusions and which will have to wait for more blood to become available. Williamson said elective procedures will be the first to go so that hospitals can prioritize blood usage for patients who have been shot or in car accidents.
For those looking to donate blood, visit LifeSouth.org or RedCrossBlood.org and locate a blood drive nearby.
During the month of January, donors through Red Cross will automatically be entered for a chance to win a trip to the Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles, a home theater package or a $500 e-gift card.
Hadley Hitson covers the rural South for the Montgomery Advertiser and Report for America. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Blood shortage leaves Alabama hospitals begging for donations
