Blood keeps living, breathing creatures alive, but nationwide hospitals and other medical centers are struggling to keep the life force in stock.
The Golden Triangle is no exception, and the blood shortage crisis is at an extremely critical level, according to Mississippi Blood Services.
The most common types of patients in need of blood include cancer and surgery patients, accident victims, organ recipients, burn victims, and those who have complications during pregnancy and childbirth, according to Hildred Deese, who has served as the health chair on the Board of Directors with Oktibbeha-Starkville Emergency Response Volunteer Services for seven years.
Melissa Gilmore, laboratory director at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, is in charge of its blood bank, and she said the most common blood transfusion patients in Columbus are oncology (cancer) patients and other in-patients, not trauma patients like many would believe.
“A large percentage, surprisingly, are for in-patient use, like for oncology patients or just patients that have a real need and come in with low blood or anemia,” Gilmore said. “You’d think it would be trauma or surgeries, but generally the brunt of it is in-patient use.”
There are only a few ways hospitals can receive blood, but the biggest resource for blood is drives such as those OSERVS and MBS hold. In the end, donors are the only source for medical centers to get blood.
OSERVS will host its first blood drive of the year from noon to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at its office at 501 Highway 12 West. Walk-ups are accepted.
“Every two seconds of every day someone in the world needs blood,” Deese said. “Because blood cannot be manufactured outside the human body and has a limited shelf life, generous donors must constantly replenish the supply. One donor can positively affect up to three lives.”
Blood has a shelf life — usefulness outside of the body — of approximately 42 days, or six weeks, Dr. Ryan Looney, an internal medicine specialist with OCH Medical Associates in Starkville. Because of its short shelf life and quick use in an overwhelmed medical system, blood is in even higher demand than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world.
“We’re never really happy with where we’re at (on blood supply). Blood is not infinite. It is a valuable resource, kind of like gold. It’s a very valuable but finite resource,” Looney said. “It has an expiration date, so we can’t just store it for months and months or years and years because it’s a kind of living thing. We were always kind of running at a shortage, but then when the pandemic hit that really compounded things.”
Looney cited two reasons COVID severely impacted the blood shortage: a higher number of people in the hospital due to illnesses and morbidity and mortality have increased. More sick people mean less healthy people to get out and give blood. Also because of the transmission rate of COVID, many people have been trying to stay home.
Deese said even with COVID, Oktibbeha County residents are still making it out to the OSERVS blood drives. On average, 35 to 40 people sign up to give blood but some are turned away due to not meeting the requirements but also some are no-shows. However, there are some walk-ups at blood drives as well.
“With COVID, we still proceeded with our three blood drives a year, and Vitalant, who we do our drives with, had protocols in place such as wearing everyone wearing a mask and vigorously wiping down seats and areas inside the buses that patients may have touched,” Deese said.
However, other areas across the state have not been so lucky with their blood drives. MBS has noticed a significant drop in donors across Mississippi. Once loyal donors are no longer coming out to drives, said Anna LeBreton, outreach coordinator for MBS.
“Within our coaches that go out and get the blood, we have to maintain (Food and Drug Administration) COVID protocols, which are masks for both donor and worker. On a five bed coach, we could only put two people and draw two donors at one time,” LeBreton said. “We’ve had longtime donors, because of the mask regulations, refuse to donate until it’s lifted. It wasn’t what we expected. I think people were just looking for a reason not to donate, maybe. It’s a commitment to save lives.”
In Columbus, there is a critical need for O-Positive blood, which is to not be confused with O-Negative as the universal donor, Gilmore said. All blood types are needed though, and those with AB are encouraged to donate as that is the most rare blood type.
There are many blood drives around the Golden Triangle, and there is easy access to them. Businesses, organizations, and even individuals host their own blood drives to help benefit area hospitals and medical centers.
MBS is always accepting donations at their three permanent sites in Cleveland, Flowood, and Oxford. LeBreton also encourages anyone who can to host a blood drive, which requires 40 feet of level parking to accommodate the bus, 20 to25 committed donors, and restrooms for the MBS staff to use. If interested in hosting a blood drive with MBS, call 601-981-3232 and ask for Anna LeBreton.
“You never know what tomorrow will hold. There will never not be a need for blood,” Looney said.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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