By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Once again American Red Cross officials are urging people to get out and donate as the blood supply is nearing critically low levels.
It was a message often heard throughout the coronavirus pandemic, get out and donate blood, but even after a bounce back in donations, supply is beginning to dwindle again.
Executive Director of the Greater Kansas City and northwest Missouri chapter JoAnn Woody says while currently they are able to keep up with agreements with medical facilities, any one crisis could really snowball create a greater impact.
"Our blood donation appointments and the number of units collected is down for the summer, if you look from June on up through this month, we're probably down about close to 20 to 25%," Woody tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "Which for some folks they might say well that doesn't sound like much."
Woody says though when you consider the shelf life of the blood supply, it needs to be ensured that the supply stays constant so that all the needs can be met in the community.
Woody, says now that they bounced back from the coronavirus pandemic, it’s hard to determine what is now causing a lack of donations
"We usually see a decrease in donor participation during the summer, because everyone's out and about and they're doing the things and having a good time, so donating blood is one of the last things on their mind," Woody explains. "But we have not seen that rally, we've not seen that bounce back as school has gotten back in session and summer is coming to a close."
Woody says usually they would start to see those donations go up, but the heightened concern is because they are not.
Woody says her agency needs to ensure it continues talking to its network and pushing the message of the need for donations.
"Just because everyone seems to be feeling better, people are out traveling, and so it's easy to forget that there are people fighting sickle cell disease, there are people going through cancer treatments that need those platelet donations and the need is constant" Woody points out. "And so, we just have to keep that message out, we have to find new audiences, new ways to share that message, and just keep it at the forefront."
Woody says the need for blood donations does not stop and it continues on at a steady pace.