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Emergency blood shortage impacting hospitals
Ariel Plasencia reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - Bay Area hospitals are asking people to donate blood after the American Red Cross declared an emergency blood shortage.
"I'm concerned because I see the need every day," Dr. Michael Longley, chief medical officer for AdventHealth North Pinellas, said.
This week, the Red Cross announced the number of nationwide blood donors hit an all-time low in the past 20 years.
"Oftentimes there's folks that want to get a lot of procedures done before the end of the year. So there will be an influx of the need for the blood products. And then after the holidays, the donations just tend to slow down," Longley said.
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Over the past two decades, officials with the Red Cross said the number of people donating blood has fallen by about 40%.
"One of the most distressing situations for a doctor is to have a hospital full of patients and an empty refrigerator without any blood products," Dr. Pampee Young, chief medical officer of the Red Cross, said in a statement. "A person needs lifesaving blood every two seconds in our country — and its availability can be the difference between life and death, however, blood is only available thanks to the generosity of those who roll up a sleeve to donate."
Longley, an emergency physician at AdventHealth Palm Harbor ER, knows the importance of always maintaining a sufficient blood supply.
"Somebody comes in with a car accident, they can require several units within the first hour. So we just don't know when we're going to need it," Longley said.
AdventHealth partnered with OneBlood to host a mobile blood drive in Palm Harbor on Thursday.
Right after he donated blood for the first time, Pinellas County resident Dale Miles told FOX 13 that he’s never needed blood before but his wife has.
"She had heart surgery, stomach surgery, you know, many surgeries," Miles said. "Because we know there's a need out there, more people need to come out and do this."
According to OneBlood, 60% of the population is eligible to be a blood donor, but only 5% actually donate.
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All blood types are needed, but there’s a special call out for O-negative, O-positive, and platelets.
If you want to donate blood through OneBlood, click here.
According to OneBlood, you must be 16-years-old and weigh at least 110 pounds to donate. To read more about their requirements, click here.
To read more about My OneBlood Journey, a program that will notify you when your donation is on its way to a hospital, click here.
To read more about OneBlood’s Message My Donor program, click here.