Blood in short supply

Blood has a shelf life. It can be stored at between 34 and 43 degrees for no more than 42 days.

In January, frigid temperatures and vacations for the students who are heavily counted on for blood donations can deplete supplies. The American Red Cross categorizes the current shortage as an emergency.

Tuesday the Missouri-Illinois Blood Services Region had less than a half-day supply of O negative and only 19 units of B negative blood. They are the two types most in demand because O negative can be given to anyone while B negative is a rare blood type.

Nobody's going to die because of this blood shortage, but a hospital could decide to limit certain procedures or postpone an elective surgery until the blood supply becomes more stable. "That's the next step," said Jim Williams, communications director for the region.

The region tries to maintain a five-to-seven-day supply of blood. The current supply will last two days.

To maintain the optimum level of blood the organization tries to collect 1,200 units each day in its 120-county region of Southern Illinois and much of Missouri. Whether that goal is met can depend on many variables, including holidays. "Bad weather or cold weather or even nice weather is a factor," Williams said.

The Missouri-Illinois Blood Services Region is a conglomerate of blood banks that work together to supply blood to hospitals and clinics in the region, which includes the southern half of Illinois and three-fourths of Missouri. Cape Girardeau is home to one of the four distribution centers in the region. Columbia and St. Louis, the region's hub, have the other Missouri centers. The fourth center is in Effingham, Ill.

The American Red Cross supplies half the blood the Missouri-Illinois region receives. Each day hospitals in the region let the Red Cross know how much blood they need. "Each hospital has a different number," Williams said. "We have standing orders throughout the area. If a trauma situation occurs they may call for more."

The region uses about 100 units of O negative blood per day; the amount of other types used varies. On Tuesday it had on hand 43 units of O negative blood and just over a day's supply of B negative blood. At emergency levels these types of blood can't be supplied for stock or nonemergency orders. The emergency level could also mean that hospital inventories are insufficient for to provide units for routine use.

If a disaster requiring large amounts of blood supplies occurred in Southeast Missouri, the organization could ask some of the big hospitals in St. Louis and Columbia for help, Williams said. "We would give them everything on our shelves."

When blood supplies are low, the Red Cross steps up its constant drive to recruit donors. "It's kind of a grassroots approach," said Kelly Ressel, the organization's donor recruitment representative in Cape Girardeau. "We contact banks, businesses and churches and spread the awareness of the need."

Regularly scheduled blood drives will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday at West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau and the Perry Park Center in Perryville, Mo., and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at both locations.

"If we don't collect today, there's not going to be any blood tomorrow," Williams said.

College and high school students, schools staffs and the parents of elementary school students supply 30 percent of the blood donated in the region. Ressel said parents who gave blood in high school and college tend to get out of the habit when they begin their careers and their families. By educating elementary students about the importance of blood donation and sending home a flier, the Red Cross hopes to bring those parents back into the donor base.

Craig Goodson is the supervisor for hospital services at the Red Cross distribution center in Cape Girardeau. Tuesday the center's minivans delivered blood to Sikeston and Poplar Bluff, Mo., and twice a week make deliveries in Illinois.

Goodson knows each hospital's needs so he can help a hospital short on blood find a neighboring hospital with a surplus.

Nothing about the blood supply can be taken for granted, Goodson said. "It's a constant roller coaster."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137