(7/30/26) The Red Cross just declared the second US blood crisis in its history.
Summer sees both a drop off in donations and, at least for our trauma center, a spike in traumas. Trauma centers across the US are in danger of running out of blood for our trauma patients TODAY, which is very scary but, unlike much of the other scary national news coming across our screens these days, is something you can help fix immediately and directly.
We need ASAP donations of blood, for people to spread the word, and for manager types to help facilitate others' donations. All blood types are needed, but universal donor blood (type O) is especially dire.
Useful notes and reminders from the reblogs:
Many things that previously made people ineligible have been rolled back. If you previously thought you were ineligible, please consider checking current guidelines!
While O- is the most dire need as it can be safely given to anyone in an emergency, all types are needed! Our emergent release blood is being pulled for patients who have a high chance of death if they don't get blood within the hour. Once they're stabilized, they can have their type confirmed and get blood of a specific, matching type released to them so that O- can go to the patients who need it most.
Canada is also in a blood shortage, not just the US. Even if you're not in the USA or Canada, maybe check locally, especially if it's summer where you are.
Additionally, it’s important to note that most blood that is donated will only last a little over a month before it expires. If it’s possible, donating blood should be a habit so the blood supply remains relatively stable. A lot of people donating all at once as a one-time event will only restore the blood supply for a very short period of time because that blood can’t be stored long-term.
If you’re lucky enough to be O- and CMV-, you’re a lucky person who provides the only kind of blood that can be given to neonatal babies!
If you’re AB or A type blood, you provide trauma plasma. In a trauma situation, a blood bank needs to administer approximately equal amounts of RBCs and plasma. There’s many reasons why, but the easiest to understand is that administering only RBCs results in an extremely high hematocrit and the heart effectively trying to pump sludge. Keeping a 50/50 mix of RBCs to plasma mimics what normal blood consists of, and preserves the fluid dynamics of blood that the heart is meant to work with. (It also provides critical clotting factors!)
Donating platelets is also wonderful. Platelets can only be stored for about a week, because they must remain at room temperature, and they’re also desperately needed by trauma patients and by oncology patients who often have dangerous thrombocytopenia.
