The Red Cross is facing its worst blood shortage in more than a decade.
“Ideally, the organization has enough blood and platelets supplied for five days,” said Marilyn Jimenez, Red Cross’s regional communications manager for the Los Angeles region.
In recent weeks, they’ve had less than a one-day supply.
“That just goes to show how serious this situation is,” she said.
But two local hospitals have been able to weather the storm. Long Beach Medical Center and the Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital—both run by MemorialCare—don’t rely on the Red Cross for their blood supplies.
Their blood supply comes from the San Diego Blood Bank and an in-house donation center, something most hospitals don’t have.
Dr. Emanuel Ferro is the medical director of the laboratory and blood bank at MemorialCare, which services both Long Beach Medical Center and the Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital.
Ferro said that, when their supplier is stressed with demand, their in-house donor center collects donations from hospital staff and community members to fill supply gaps.
“Not a lot of hospitals have their own in-house donor center,” Ferro said. “It makes them extremely vulnerable when their suppliers are short. They don’t have a lot of ability to make up for the shortfall […] If the Red Cross is saying ‘We have no blood to send you,’ then they’re stuck.”
The Red Cross relies on donations: high school and university blood drives, mobile donation centers and appointments from people giving up their lifeblood for the greater good (and incentives like gift cards and Krispy Kreme donuts).
But when schools close, blood drives don’t happen: the Red Cross has seen a 62% decrease in school blood drives since the pandemic began. When severe winter weather hit the U.S. in January, 250 blood drives were canceled. That’s in addition to more people staying at home, where they’re less likely to come across mobile blood drives.
The Red Cross has seen a 10% drop in the number of people donating blood since the pandemic began, according to Jimenez.
“The distribution of our blood products to hospitals are outpacing the donations that are coming in,” Jimenez said. “It takes time to replace that blood supply.”
When donations fall, so do supplies to the approximately 130 hospitals they provide for in Southern California. The organization provides 40% of the nation’s blood.
At times during the pandemic, up to a quarter of hospital needs have not been met nationwide, Jimenez said.
Surgical and trauma patients, cancer patients and patients at the MemorialCare’s perinatal center (which services patients with high-risk pregnancies) require the most blood transfusions, Ferro said.
Between normal inventory and critical inventory levels, he said MemorialCare is “smack dab in the middle […] So where everyone else has already been in the critical red zone, we’re kind of in this yellow-green zone.”
When hospitals face blood shortages, they have to delay or divert care. In January, the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center shut down for more than two hours due to a shortage of blood.
“I can assure you that several other hospitals in the area have actually had to cut services because they have very little blood in-house,” Ferro said. He declined to name the hospitals.
A hospital spokesperson for Dignity Health, which provides cancer care and surgical services in Long Beach, wrote in an email that “donors of all types are urgently needed.”
“In addition to omicron patients, our hospitals and emergency rooms are still treating accident victims, surgical patients and other patients who need life-saving transfusions,” the spokesperson wrote.
Though MemorialCare’s local hospitals are at lower levels than usual, they’re not near critical levels, nor have they hit critical levels at any point during the pandemic. Ferro said the hospital is “carefully monitoring” its supplies due to the national shortage.
As the Red Cross continues to grapple with the shortage, they’re urging the public to make an appointment to give blood or platelets “as soon as possible” by using the Red Cross Blood Donor app, visiting RedCrossBlood.org or calling 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
Those with O-negative blood, the universal blood type, are especially encouraged to donate.
“Blood is a valuable and precious commodity,” Ferro said. “Anything people can do to just become regular donors is key.”
To donate directly to MemorialCare, visit memorialcare.org/blooddonation or call 562-933-0808.
Blood donors must be in good health, be at least 18 years of age and weigh at least 110 pounds. Certain medical conditions or recent use of certain medications may temporarily disqualify residents from donating.
Pregnant women and those who have recently tested positive for COVID-19 are not eligible to donate. Men who have had sex with another man in the past three months are not eligible to donate. More eligibility requirements are available online.
Correction: Feb. 9, This story was updated to reflect that MemorialCare’s two hospitals in Long Beach are Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital.
