Blood supplies are dwindling across the nation amid the covid-19 outbreak, and while Arkansas has seen a rush of donations in the past week, state medical officials are concerned that donations will fall off after the initial surge.
The U.S. surgeon general last week urged healthy Americans, especially younger ones, to donate blood in an effort to maintain adequate supplies as health officials battle an outbreak that has led to almost 54,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 700 deaths nationwide.
The American Red Cross announced March 17 that it faced a severe blood shortage after a large number of blood drives were canceled because of the virus.
Mario Sedlock, executive director at the Arkansas Blood Institute, has spent 25 years in the blood bank business and previously worked with the American Red Cross. He said the potential blood shortage he is seeing across the nation is unprecedented.
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"This is a situation that is unique because of the uncertainty," Sedlock said. "There isn't a date we can put our finger on where we can say this is when life gets back to normal. It's not a one-time situation like [Hurricane] Katrina or 9/11. There is a lot of uncertainty."
Joe Zydlo, a spokesman for the American Red Cross, said the bulk of the organization's donations come from blood drives held at schools, churches and college campuses -- areas that have been shut down because of the coronavirus. He said blood drives that were scheduled for June are being canceled out of fear of the disease, causing concern within the agency.
"It isn't always trauma victims, but cancer patients and others who need this blood, and if it's not available then their surgery can be postponed," Zydlo said. "I ask you to put yourself in their shoes and the shoes of their families."
Gov. Asa Hutchinson posted Tuesday on social media asking those who are able to consider donating blood.
In 2018, the American Red Cross transferred its donors and blood-drive sponsors to the Arkansas Blood Institute, a nonprofit that consolidated the Red Cross' blood donation operation into its own.
The institute is the exclusive supplier for 40 hospitals in Arkansas and is an offshoot of the Oklahoma Blood Institute, the ninth-largest nonprofit blood center in the nation.
Zydlo said the American Red Cross still runs blood donations in Northwest Arkansas and in the state's northeast, including a blood donor office in Jonesboro, and that the state is part of the Missouri and Illinois region.
"We have had 236 blood donation drives canceled in the region, meaning we have 10,340 fewer donations," he said. "I would conservatively say 15 to 18 percent of that is from Arkansas."
Heather Browne, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Blood Institute, said her agency has seen hundreds of blood drives canceled as well because of the coronavirus.
Usually that would leave the agency short thousands of units, she said, but there has been a rush of donations over the past couple of weeks. Sedlock said he has been working at blood bank clinics in Little Rock and has seen a surge there as well.
"I think we are OK today," Sedlock said, "but if we look ahead in the month of April, we are in a situation, because we have eliminated 75 blood drives from the calendar because of schools and college campuses being closed."
Sedlock said that on most given days high schools and college campuses make up 20% to 30% of blood donations, but during March, April and May that number goes up to 70%.
"This was spring break time so we didn't really account for having student donations, but now our concern is in April and seeing if we can meet the demand," Sedlock said.
Browne said the Arkansas Blood Institute depends on 1,200 donors per day to support the inventory needed for patients in more than 40 hospitals, medical facilities and air ambulances statewide and across the region.
"The problem is we need these donors constantly over the next few weeks or months, so we are trying to meter them out," she said. "Blood has a shelf life of 42 days, and a donor can't give blood again until 56 days have passed."
Leslie Taylor, a spokeswoman for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said the hospital has a good blood supply right now because all elective surgeries have been canceled.
"We are still using the blood supply for organ transplants, trauma and cancer patients," she said. "It will be used for major surgery as well."
Brian Miller, vice president of hospital operations at Baptist Health Systems, said its hospitals also have an appropriate blood supply that is used for surgeries and treatments, but he said that doesn't mean the supply will last forever.
"We use blood products every day," he said in an email. "Blood has a shelf life. Though the supply is OK for now, if people were to stop donating during this pandemic, then that would have an impact on our resources."
Chanda Chacon, chief operating officer at Arkansas Children's Hospital, said the blood supply is particularly crucial for the hospital because the medical system takes care of 90% of the state's pediatric cancer patients.
Browne said Arkansas Blood Institute has extended its hours at several locations, including Little Rock, North Little Rock, Fort Smith and Hot Springs. Sedlock said the institute is also working with hospitals and community groups to add additional blood drives.
"We are getting community sites, or micro sites, set up, which are pretty much standing-up blood drives," he said.
Chacon said Arkansas Children's Hospital is trying to create an in-house blood drive for staff members to help.
"We feel an obligation to rally behind [the Arkansas Blood Institute]," Chacon said. "We hope others will take up the initiative, as well."
Blood drives are still being held in Arkansas, Zyldo said, but he cautioned donors to check and see if specific events are still being held. Donors can call 1-800-733-2767.
To donate blood, individuals need to bring a blood donor card or a driver's license or two other forms of identification.
Metro on 03/25/2020