M e d i c a l R e c o r d F e at u r e
The Other Health Crisis We’re Not Talking About:
A National Blood Shortage by Holly Yacynych, Marketing Manager Miller-Keystone Blood Center
W
hile nearly everyone has been focused on the ongoing pandemic and resulting variants of the virus; another health crisis has already become a national emergency; the blood shortage. With schools and businesses shuttering their doors and opting for remote or hybrid options, the ability to host on-site mobile blood drives abruptly ended with the start of the pandemic. Fears of donating, even today and over two-years into the pandemic, have minimized donor engagement and recruitment, and resulted in a dramatic loss in necessary and life-saving blood products. Social distancing guidelines for the safety of phlebotomists and blood donors remains a constant challenge limiting the number of individuals allowed within any blood donation facility. The rapid decline in blood collections was and continues to be felt far and wide. Blood centers across the nation have gathered often to share their struggles and provide blood products to one another during one of the darkest periods of time. With no blood to spare or share, each faces the same mission-defeating crisis: how do we replenish and supply our hospitals and communities with necessary life-saving blood products? Even when hospitals temporarily paused elective surgeries due to the lack of supply of blood, which would presumably allow for more blood to be collected, another challenge arose. Traditionally, blood centers are often faced with a dwindling supply of blood during the summer vacation months and winter months. There is still no respite, and the crisis of the blood shortage is an on-going health situation with little attention or discussion. With no organic or manufactured substitute for blood, volunteer blood donors hold the key to ending the other health crisis our nation and local communities are facing. Blood products such as platelets, plasma and red blood cells are vital in the
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