Written by: Gabby Winzenried
Hospitals rely on regular people, like you or me, for blood donations. A simple act that will take less than an hour to complete can potentially save up to eight lives. Because of you, eight people have another chance at life; doesn’t that feel good to know that you saved eight people.
When the pandemic first started, hospitals were forced to cancel surgeries. With the uncertainty of the virus, doctors didn’t want to take the risk of operating when there was that option to wait. The shortage of blood wasn’t a concern as they didn’t need as much because of the canceled surgeries. As those surgeries are getting rescheduled, the need for blood has soared. Hospitals all across the nation are demanding blood, but they're just isn’t enough to go around. Although the demand for blood has increased, the supply has dropped by a lot. Since the government is encouraging people to stay in their homes, people are less willing to go out and donate. In turn, creating a shortage of blood.
The Red Cross, one of the nation's biggest blood suppliers, is forced to reduce the amount of blood they are sending to hospitals; sometimes cutting the amount requested by hospitals in half. The Red Cross who normally has about a three to four-day supply of blood to meet the nation's needs is seeing the number decrease to one day or less supply. Forcing doctors in a predicament where they have to decide who to give blood to.
Although blood as a whole is in demand, Type O-negative specifically is in higher demand. Type O-negative can be used on any person, regardless of their blood type. It is commonly referred to as the universal blood type. This type of blood is particularly important in emergencies. When the doctor doesn’t have time to identify the blood type of the patient, they use Type O-negative blood. Because the supply is so low, doctors are finding loopholes that allow them to find out the patient's blood type before proceeding. This can only work so long before patients' lives are being compromised.
Donor incentive is at an all time low right now. They have no obligation to anyone to donate nor do they know the person it’s going to, so why would they donate. Many people donate blood to do a good deed; they are saving someone's life. It is less commonly known that there are a lot of health benefits to donating blood such as the reduced risk of cancer and obesity, and improving your cardiovascular health. To help create a better incentive for donors, centers are providing a COVID antibody test. This test tells you if your body, more specifically your immune system has responded to the virus. If it comes back positive, you have or previously had COVID. In addition to that, centers are offering “prizes” to donors. These “prizes” can include coupons to restaurants, t-shirts, gift cards, etc. All these incentives are being put in place to help increase the number of donors.
With many drives being canceled and schools unable to host drives. Donation centers are missing out on thousands of potential donations. If we continue to see a shortage of blood, hundreds of lives will be lost. Blood is something that hospitals need. Doing this small deed which is a minor inconvenience to you could save someone's life. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll need blood and you’ll rely on others to provide that. Donate blood for a reason, let that reason be life.
Works Cited
Abolghasemi, Hassan, et al. “Blood Donor Incentives: A Step Forward or Backward.” Asian Journal of Transfusion Science, Medknow Publications, Jan. 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2847338/.
Flavelle, Christopher. “Red Cross Warns of a 'Staggering' Drop in Blood Supplies.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 June 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/climate/blood-donations-hospitals-shortage.html#:~:text=Several months of social distancing,and churches canceled en masse.
Marcus, Amy Dockser. “U.S. Blood Reserves Are Critically Low.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 16 June 2020, www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-blood-reserves-are-critically-low-11591954200.
Oaklander, Mandy. “Coronavirus Fears Are Causing Blood Drive Cancellations.” Time, Time, 16 Mar. 2020, time.com/5802869/blood-drives-coronavirus/.
Pettinger, Tejvan, et al. “Diagrams for Supply and Demand.” Economics Help, 6 Aug. 2020, www.economicshelp.org/blog/1811/markets/diagrams-for-supply-and-demand/.
Gabby,
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that there are health benefits to donating blood, like reduced risk of cancer, obesity, and improving your cardiovascular health. I personally don't understand how that's possible by just taking blood out of your system, but that's amazing. I've never personally donated blood, but after reading your post it has made me realize there is no reason why I shouldn't. Thanks for all of this positive information!
I really enjoyed reading your article! I was surprised that initially the demand decreased for blood, but you explained that was because of the cancellations of surgeries, which makes sense. That clicked for me, because my uncle who works as a nurse for people post surgery at Mayo Clinic, was almost let go because of the cancellations (he actually ended up treating Covid patients in Abu Dhabi). I was so curious about job loss, I didn't think about the blood donation aspect!
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