National blood supply shortage also affecting DFW hospitals, American Red Cross says
DALLAS - The American Red Cross says blood donations are the lowest they've been in decades.
There's a critical shortage of supply, and there's concern hospitals may not have what they need to save lives.
The blood shortage is also being seen here in the DFW area, impacting surgeries and procedures at nearby hospitals.
First-time donor Julie Lawson says she’d encourage others to donate blood like she did Monday in Dallas.
"There’s multiple locations," she said. "It was great. Everyone’s very friendly, and I’m fine."
Brian McKay is a long-time donor.
"It has been 20 years throughout that I continued to. Now more than ever due to the shortage, I try to be consistent," he said. "It’s something I’ll keep doing."
The American Red Cross says it’s seeing an emergency blood shortage as the nation faces the lowest number of people giving blood in 20 years.
Featured
Longtime Red Cross volunteer celebrates 101st birthday
Arizona woman Betty Grenig said she still volunteers today, as she has for the past 80 years.
Brian Murnahan with the Red Cross North Texas Region says donated blood is tested to make sure it’s of good quality and brought back to the lab. They distributed to DFW area hospitals.
"We need people to donate blood. Right now, doctors are actually looking at the blood supply and saying that they do not have enough blood to actually do all the surgeries and all the procedures they need to do to make sure they save people’s lives," he said. "One of the things that’s happening right now, the blood supply is low enough that we actually have to hold back some of the supply. So that when a person needs a particular type of blood that we’re able to run the blood straight to that hospital."
Murnahan says once you’re on the table, the blood donation only takes about eight minutes.
"Every donation can save more than one life," he said. "So we encourage you to do that. Donating once a year is great, but donating every 56 days is amazing."
Over the last 20 years, the number of people donating blood to the Red Cross has fallen about 40%.
During Christmas and New Year’s, there’s typically a lag.
"This year was a little bit more than we were expecting," Murnahan said. "We are expecting about a 30% decline in donations between mid-December and mid-January. We need to actually raise about 8,000 extra units a day nationwide."
This year, the American Red Cross and the NFL have partnered for a chance for two donors to win Super Bowl tickets as a way to thank donors.
The next blood drives in our area will be on Jan. 12 and 22.