Between the pandemic and the typical summer-time dip in donations, blood banks around the country are experiencing a shortage.
Most can handle day to day needs, but when a disaster like a hurricane or mass shooting occurs, there can be an issue.
Normally, a blood bank would burn through its entire supply if an emergency came up and need to put out calls to other banks for a re-supply.
It could take up to 24 hours to get the needed blood to the disaster area.
Community Blood Center CEO and President John Hagins said the new emergency blood reserve network will shorten that response.
“A group of us came together the genesis of the idea, which was we could all commit to having units to be sent right away when there’s a blood need, we could shorten the amount of time it would take to get blood resources into an affected area,” said Hagins.
The CBC is one of seven founders the Blood Emergency Readiness Corps, with more blood centers expected to join.
Participating centers will rotate weeks where they’re expected to keep the extra blood supply on hand in case of emergencies.
They’re committed to keeping 30 to 50 units solely for the emergency bank.
“If the blood’s not needed for an emergency during the week that we have responsibility for, it will go into the general pool. If it is needed as it has been in the past we would share resources with other blood centers around the U.S. if there was a need and we have all the needs met locally. We are locally focused, but we are nationally connected,” said Hagins.
With the commitment to keep more blood on hand, the CBC is asking people donate now.
It’s also looking for new sponsors to host blood drives specifically to support the emergency blood reserve.
“Usually, the community blood center keeps a 7 to 10 supply on hand in our inventory, in addition to the 7-to-10-day supply that’s in hospitals inventory,” said Hagins. “We’re not worried about not being able to meet the immediate need, but we want to make sure that we can replenish the need as it’s shipped to other places in addition to our local needs.”
You can learn more about hosting a drive on the CBC’s website.
