Typical blood donation sites are run in schools and workplaces, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made these almost impossible. // Photo courtesy of LuAnn Hunt via Unsplash.
Long Island is in the midst of a blood shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To combat the deficit, local blood centers and doctors are calling for new and veteran donors to meet the need.
Social distancing requirements have closed many schools and workplaces to in-person work, causing blood banks to lose a reliable supply of donations from pop-up drives. New York state’s largest supplier of blood, the New York Blood Center (NYBC), is now primarily relying on physical donation centers to meet the need for nearly 2,000 donations per day.
“The need for blood has not decreased, but the convenience and people’s willingness to donate did,” said Andrea Cefarelli, senior executive director at NYBC.
NYBC relied on about 30,000 blood donations per month before the pandemic, according to Cefarelli. Now the center only gets around 75% of that amount, which she said cannot fulfill the traditional and emergency needs of hospital patients, as medical procedures return to normal levels.
Dr. Alexander J. Indrikovs, the senior director of transfusion medicine at Northwell Health, said Northwell Health primarily relies on NYBC for blood needed for transfusions. However, he said the amount of blood NYBC has on hand has dropped from a seven day supply to a one to two day supply.
Indrikovs said the blood shortage has not reached crisis level yet, but he urges people to donate now if they are able. “Even if it is more challenging for them to do [so] during the pandemic, we still need them,” he said.
Coronavirus’ impact on blood shortage
Youth donors are the foundation of the blood supply. Nearly 500 schools on Long Island, including Hofstra, and in the surrounding New York area hold drives multiple drives that provide around 75,000 donations per year. “They could get out of chemistry class and go donate in the gym with their friends,” Cefarelli said.
Workplaces fulfilled a similar role until remote work threw a wrench into the system. “It may be more difficult for an individual that is working from home now to drive to a location on Long Island or in New York to give a blood donation when before they could give it at their work site,” Indrikovs said.
NYBC said it is able to host COVID-safe blood drives, but it is struggling to find organizations that are willing to do them. Cefarelli added a common response from organizations is that they are waiting until more people are vaccinated to ensure safety.
“We’re trying to show them how safe we can be,” Cefarelli said. “We’re setting up blood drives in bigger spaces, the beds are further apart, the staff is further apart and, when they let us, we’re really quite successful with them.”
To motivate people to donate at their permanent donation centers, NYBC is using phone, mail and social media campaigns, as well as partnerships with hospitals and government entities. Cefarelli said NYBC is working to vary the channel and message to appeal to a larger audience.
Yes. Us again. We know – you’re over it. But unfortunately, we need you. This weather has been for the birds, and it’s made it difficult to collect the blood and platelets needed to support local hospitals. Please make your appointment today: https://t.co/6aBf8L1S0p pic.twitter.com/N3AH1gD1kG
— NY Blood Center (@NYBloodCenter) February 23, 2021
Many NYBC sites are now open seven days a week. Donors must make an appointment, wear a mask while at the site and follow social distancing guidelines. As for NYBC, staff carefully clean the equipment and the number of donors inside are limited to ensure coronavirus safety.
Importance of blood donations today
In the early days of the pandemic, convalescent plasma was touted as a potential treatment for all coronavirus patients. This blood collected from a recovered patient is a typical treatment for many illnesses and has been used for ailments prior to the coronavirus.
Earlier this month, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) stopped clinical trials that used convalescent plasma for emergency department patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms after they determined it was not significantly effective. However, this has not stopped NYBC’s collection of the plasma, as it can be a lifesaving treatment for more serious COVID-19 cases.
“It’s really limited right now, which is appropriate because we don’t have a lot of it,” said Judith Brenner, the associate dean for educational data and analytics at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. “It would do us no good for us to have widespread indications [that it worked] and then not have enough.”
Despite convalescent plasma not being as effective as anticipated, doctors agreed blood donations are important regardless of the pandemic.
“[Blood donation] becomes part of the therapeutic part of what we have as far as treating patients,” Brenner said. Whole blood, plasma, red blood cells and platelets are all crucial in treating both chronic illnesses like cancer or providing care in traumatic incidents that involve transfusions and transplants.
Indrikovs encourages people to donate as often as they can. “It is only with their donations that we can maintain the treatment for patients that need these therapies,” he said. “They count on the community to make those donations.”
Graphic courtesy of Caitlin O’Brien