Hospital blood usage has surged nearly 10% over previous levels as the community has moved into COVID-19 recovery mode, Arkansas Blood Institute said Tuesday in a news release, and blood donors are "needed immediately to respond."
ABI is only at 80% of what it needs and the blood shortage can be attributed to several things, Stephanie Ezell, ABI's donor recruitment director, said.
"Turnout has been quite a bit lower," she said.
"The local blood supply typically operates at a three-day supply, but the surge in demand has lowered levels to a one-day supply," the release said.
More blood is being used right now, Ezell said, because elective surgeries delayed by the pandemic are now being scheduled.
"We're thankful that COVID has receded enough for Arkansans to create a new normal and get caught up on deferred medical care," Dr. John Armitage, president and CEO of ABI, said in the release.
"But, the impact of this return to normalcy has stressed our blood supply in yet another way. The COVID pandemic continues to surprise and challenge us," he said.
"About every two seconds, a patient needs blood," Ezell said.
Another issue causing the shortage is confusion, Ezell said, because many people mistakenly "think they can't donate if they were vaccinated." While there are things that prevent a person from donating, the COVID-19 vaccine is not one of them, she said.
Good weather has also affected turnout, she said, noting, "weather has been beautiful," which causes people to seek the outdoors rather than donating blood.
ABI is also unable to reach as many university and high school students as normal.
"Normally, pre-COVID, we get one-third (of our blood donations) from high schools (and universities)," Ezell said. "We lost the vast majority of our high schools."
In normal years, a school would have two to four donation drives a year, she said, but "some ran one, or not any at all" in 2020.
By not reaching students, not only does it create a lack of donated blood, but students miss the education of it.
"A lot of these kids will donate to get out of class for an hour," Ezell said, but when they donate blood, the institute uses that hour as "our opportunity to teach them to help our fellow man."
She said students don't think about issues in the community like blood donation until they are taught the importance of it.
Initially, after they lost students as a source of blood, the community made up for it, she said, with many people donating blood "just to be able to socialize."
There is a blood donation center in Hot Springs, and mobile centers are also available.
Ezell said the best way to find out where to donate is to visit https:arkbi.org or to call 877-340-8777. There are some restrictions on who can donate that relate to medication and travel, and a list of these can be found on the website.
Anyone 17 and older can donate blood without parental consent, and teens who are 16 years old can donate with parental consent.