Red Cross locally unable to handle so many donors

The American Red Cross staff couldn't cope with the more than 1,200 area residents who showed up at the Osage Community Centre in Cape Girardeau on Wednesday to give blood in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the East Coast.

Nearly 700 people were turned away or left because the wait was too long, local Red Cross officials said.

Some waited for three and a half to four hours to give blood. It was a scene repeated at blood drives across the country. People waited five hours in St. Louis to give blood on Wednesday, seven hours in Oklahoma City, Okla., and up to eight hours in New York.

David Palmer, Red Cross blood-drive coordinator in Cape Girardeau, said Thursday that the East Coast now has enough blood on hand to treat the victims of the terrorist attacks.

"They are telling us the blood supply is more than adequate right now," said Palmer. He said few survivors are being pulled from the debris of the collapsed World Trade Center towers and the fire-damaged Pentagon.

Independent blood centers, including the New York center, say they have plenty of blood and suggested would-be donors return in a few days to avoid long lines and the possibility of being turned away.

Needed nationwide

But the American Red Cross nationally continues to encourage blood donations.

Dr. Bernadine Healy, president of the American Red Cross, said, "People want to give blood now."

Said Healy, "They want to help their fellow Americans. This is an act of mourning. This is healing their wounds too."

On Wednesday, the 20 local Red Cross workers had their hands full at the Cape Girardeau drive, drawing 439 units of blood from over 500 donors in a span of 10 1/2 hours.

The Red Cross started turning away would-be donors before 6 p.m. "We decided we couldn't handle any more crowd for the evening," said Palmer. "I have never seen anything like this."

In the end, they turned away an estimated 300 people. Nearly 400 others left earlier in the afternoon because the wait was too long.

But even if the Red Cross had expected such a crowd, it wasn't equipped to handle it.

The Southeast office used all of its available staff. "Within our region, we actually canceled some of the smaller blood drives to consolidate staff," Palmer said.

Federal regulations prohibit the use of outside nurses or other medical personnel at blood drives, Palmer said. Only Red Cross-trained workers can assist in such blood drives, he said.

The Federal Drug Administration, however, has given blood centers permission to use workers with less training than usual to handle the flood of donors.

Palmer said the FDA has strict requirements on the collection and processing of blood. The Red Cross tests its collected blood in St. Louis to make sure it isn't contaminated by disease.

Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center don't collect blood because it would be costly to have all the equipment needed to test and process blood to federal requirements, officials at the two hospitals said.

Will be used locally

The blood collected Wednesday in Cape Girardeau won't be shipped to New York or Washington. It will be used in hospitals in Missouri and Illinois.

Palmer said it's important for people to realize that there's a constant need for blood for routine surgeries year-round.

The Red Cross in this region serves 128 hospitals in parts of Missouri and Illinois. "We use about 1,100 units of blood a day," Palmer said.

The Red Cross in the Missouri and Illinois region shipped 700 units of blood to the Baltimore and Washington area on Tuesday after the terrorist attacks.

The Cape Girardeau blood drive and others in Missouri Wednesday helped replenish the supply, Palmer said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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