The region is currently experiencing a blood emergency with dangerously low levels of O+,O-, and B-, and overall inventory well below optimal levels.
CONNECTICUT — Connecticut Blood Center (CTBC) today has announced a blood emergency following a summer of low donor turnout. Contributing to the shortage are the recent Labor Day holiday, back-to-school activities, and a prolonged 50% decrease in youth and first-time donors.
The region’s blood supply is well below the optimal 5-7 days and while all blood types are needed, types O+, O-, and B- are critically low. Connecticut is not alone, blood shortages are happening across the country, with multiple centers urgently calling for blood donations.
The sustained loss of youth and first-time donors and fewer organizations hosting blood drives, remote and blended work schedules are all combined to have a devastating impact on our local blood supply and the nation’s blood supply. There is no surplus in the nation’s blood supply to help centers that experience seasonal shortages. With fewer high schools hosting blood drives, youth and first-time donors did not get the chance to develop donating blood as a habit for the three-plus years during the pandemic and we are seeing the impact now.
“As we come off a challenging summer, and the holiday season being right around the corner, we are entering an important fall timeframe of much-needed blood donation,” said Jonathan DeCasanova, Account Manager for Connecticut Blood Center. “It is critical that community members come out to donate so that we can adequately provide blood to hospitals and patients in need. Everyone plays a role in building up our inventory and that patient in need could someday be you.”
CONNECTICUT BLOOD CENTER (CTBC) supplies blood and blood products to patients being cared for in over a dozen Connecticut hospitals. CTBC operates a hospital services blood storage depot from our Connecticut center so we can quickly and reliably get urgent or unexpected orders to local hospitals. CTBC is operated by the Rhode Island Blood Center, a part of the New York Blood Center Enterprises family with more than five decades of experience saving lives by ensuring a safe and plentiful blood supply to the patients and hospitals we serve. CTBC is also part of the National Marrow Donor Program, registering individuals throughout New England to become lifesaving stem cell donors for patients who need a transplant to survive.
NEW YORK BLOOD CENTER ENTERPRISES/NEW YORK BLOOD CENTER was founded in 1964, New York Blood Center Enterprises (NYBCe) is one of the largest nonprofit, independent, community blood centers in the world. Along with partner organizations Blood Bank of Delmarva (BBD), Community Blood Center of Kansas City (CBC), Connecticut Blood Center (CTBC), Memorial Blood Centers (MBC), Nebraska Community Blood Bank (NCBB), and Rhode Island Blood Center (RIBC), we collect approximately 4,000 units of blood products each day and serve communities approaching 50 million people in the tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT), mid-Atlantic area (PA, DE, MD), Kansas City metropolitan area, Minnesota, Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Southern New England. NYBCe delivers lifesaving blood products and services as well as clinical, medical, pharmaceutical, testing, and consultative services to over 600 hospitals and dozens of research organizations, academic institutions, and biomedical companies. Among other milestones, our Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute pioneered the Hepatitis B vaccine andpatented a solvent detergent plasma process, innovating blood-purification technology worldwide.