Red Cross asks Tucsonans to donate during blood shortage

The American Red Cross — which supplies 40% of the nation’s blood and 90% of blood products in Southern Arizona alone, including rural hospitals — is facing a 25% decrease in its blood supply nationwide.

The organization is asking Tucsonans to step up and donate more.

“There are many factors that play into this current blood shortage,” said Courtney Slanaker, executive director of the Red Cross Southern Arizona Chapter. “With summer travel, school being out, and climate disasters occurring throughout the country, we are seeing a decrease in the number of donors turning out.”

The American Red Cross noted in a news release Monday that blood products aren’t like other medical resources and cannot be “manufactured, stockpiled, or rushed into existence when a crisis hits.” Blood products have a shelf life of just weeks, it said. 

The release said data shows someone in the U.S. needs blood every two seconds, and that could include “a newborn fighting for their first breath, a mother hemorrhaging after childbirth, a child battling cancer, or a family waiting on news after a car crash.”

“A stable supply depends entirely on donors showing up, again and again, all year long,” said the release. “When they don’t, hospitals feel it immediately, and patients pay the price.”

Blood donations are critical for people experiencing a range of illnesses and medical complications, including trauma, childbirth, cancer treatment and sickle cell disease.

Jean Gribbon, chief mission officer at Beads of Courage, said in the news release that the daily need for blood donors is immense. They use a red bead as a token of representation for every child whose life is dependent on a blood donor, she said, and they give out 600,000 red beads annually to “visually symbolize the gift of a blood donation to save a child’s life.”