Low supplies spur blood banks' appeal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. blood banks appealed Monday for immediate donations as supplies dwindled throughout the country and some hospitals canceled non-emergency surgeries.
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Blood inventories nationwide "have dropped well below a safe and adequate supply," according to a statement from the American Association of Blood Banks, the American Red Cross and America's Blood Centers.
Donations were falling in part due to holiday travel, bad weather in the West and a decline in blood drives, the organizations said. Certain blood types were nearly depleted, forcing some hospitals to postpone or cancel non-emergency surgeries, they said.
"If blood supplies do not immediately increase, patients, accident victims and those whose lives depend on regular transfusions, are at risk for not getting the blood they need," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a statement.
A national tracking system showed less than a two-day supply of blood, said Michelle Hudgins, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, which collects about half of the nation's blood. Blood banks prefer to have at least a five- to seven-day supply on hand, she said.
For America's Blood Centers, which collects the other half of the U.S. blood supply, shortages were worst in the South and on the West Coast, spokeswoman Sharon Pavlovsky said.
Blood banks were working to ship excess supplies in some areas to others in need, the organizations said.
People who want to donate should contact a local blood bank for an appointment, the organizations said. Donors must be healthy, at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and meet other requirements. People can give blood every 56 days.
Millions of pints of donated blood are used each year to treat surgical patients, organ transplant recipients, accident victims and others. Blood has a shelf life of 42 days, so supplies need to be replenished continually.
Only about 5 percent of eligible Americans donate blood, the blood banks said.
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