Blood banks looking for donors
Winter and summer are typically slower times for donations
Blood banks in the Northwest reported a drop in blood donations early this year due to cold weather and poor driving conditions. That kept some Northwest blood donors from making or keeping appointments, the Washington State Department of Health reported late last month.
Kristin Conner, communications manager at Vitalant Blood Donation, said the biggest drops in blood donation usually come in the winter and summer months.
“The holiday season and January, February, you know, those months that are full of cold season and flu season and terrible weather,” she said. “ The other time (there’s a drop in donations) is summer time, because during the year we have a lot of high school blood drives.”
Those shortages have since leveled off, she said, but they never go away.
“Donations are always needed every single day,” Conner said.
As of Wednesday, the nonprofit Bloodworks Northwest still had a “code red” on its website, indicating an urgent need for donations.
According to America’s Blood Centers, someone needs blood in the United States every two seconds — but only about 3% of the eligible population donates blood.
The need is always highest for Type O negative blood, which is the universal blood type, and platelet donations, Conner said.
Donations typically take less than an hour, Conner said.
“I would say most people are in the chair actually donating for like seven to 10 minutes,” she said. “The rest of that, you go in, you get seen by a nurse, you have a little mini physical, and they’re able to check your iron level to make sure your iron is high enough to be safe for you to donate.”
In addition to trauma victims, Conner said, blood donations are also essential for people receiving long-term treatments for things like cancer.
People interested in donating can find locations at bloodworksnw.org.
Sun may be contacted at rsun@lmtribune.com or on Twitter at @Rachel_M_Sun. This report is made in partnership with Northwest Public Broadcasting, the Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
