Red Cross Says Critically Low Blood Supplies Is A Nationwide Emergency

The Red Cross is calling a critically low blood supply a nationwide emergency which could put certain patients at risk.

Doctor Eric Gary, medical director of the American Red cross, says emptier shelves could force hospitals to make excruciating decisions.

“Doctors have to make choices about which patients can receive a transfusion in a given day. Surgeries like heart surgeries, can be delayed, waiting for the available blood to be collected and sent to the hospital.”

Figures are showing that the number of donors stands at a 20-year low with a loss on 300,000 donors since the pandemic.

Here in the Lake Area, Lake Regional Health System says its supply…which is provided by the Community Blood Center of the Ozarks…has been challenged in the past but not to the point where supply was not adequate to get the job done.