Hospitals across the country are facing the potential for critical blood shortages as a result of blood drive cancellations during mandatory shelter in place orders. Blood donation may also be hampered by the changes blood banks have had to make to keep donors safe.
Now Ronn Berrol, M.D., medical director of the Summit campus emergency department at Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, explains the impact of the blood shortage on hospitals in a recent interview with KTVU Fox 2.
Watch the video interview
For a while, the drop in blood donation wasn’t as problematic since there was a lower demand for blood as people obeyed shelter in place orders—the number of emergency surgeries and hospitalizations was reduced— and elective procedures were cancelled, says Dr. Berrol. But as people begin venturing out and hospitals resume urgent and elective surgeries, he says there is the potential for disruption or delays for blood-intensive surgical procedures such as complicated heart, cancer, gynecologic or orthopedic surgery because of the blood and blood product shortage.
The solution?
Dr. Berrol urges healthy people to contact their local blood bank to make an appointment to donate blood. He also counsels patience because, though the need for blood donation is urgent, there may be a delay of a week or two for an appointment since blood banks have had to reduce the number of appointments they can offer in order to implement safety measures like physical distancing and extra cleaning.
Contact the Red Cross or Vitalant to learn more about how you can donate blood in your community.
