The heavy storms and flooding that engulfed the Northeast last month hampered donors and left the region so dangerously short of blood that hospitals may be forced to delay surgeries.
Blood donations dropped during the recent flooding as donors missed appointments, said Shaun Adamec, spokesman for the American Red Cross Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Blood Services Region, which covers southeastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington and northern Virginia.
“It had a similar effect as a major snowstorm,” Adamec said. “It kept people home and not donating blood.”
With families on vacation and college campuses deserted, blood collection agencies already struggle to find donors during the summer. Recent flooding, combined with the Fourth of July holiday, has worsened the annual shortage.
Linda Wilson, donor center recruitment manager for Inova Blood Donor Services, said Inova has, on average, collected half of the 200 units it needs each day since the beginning of July.
Inova supplies blood to 15 hospitals in the metro area, including two level-one trauma centers — Suburban Hospital and InovaFairfax Hospital.
The donation drop-off has drained the reserve supply at Inova and the Red Cross, which should always have three to five days’ worth of each blood type on hand. Greater Chesapeake currently has enough Type O and B-negative for less than half a day.
“These numbers are well below what’s considered safe,” Adamec said. “Unless the blood supply is replenished, then doctors and hospitals are going to be put in the awkward situation of having to decide who gets blood and who doesn’t.”
Medical personnel may need to reschedule elective surgeries or outpatient transfusions when blood is in short supply, said Dr. Kirsten Alcorn, medical director of transfusion services at the Washington Hospital Center, where the hospital donor center is falling just short of its target of 900 units a month. Local agencies need all blood types, especially the universal donor O.
