Available blood supplies in the Mid-South have reached critically low levels recently, due to low donation levels and high usage.
The current blood supply in the area is only 35% of what is needed to provide life-saving transfusions to all needy patients in area medical centers. Several hospitals, including Baptist East and Methodist, are currently postponing transplant surgeries due to the blood shortage.
"O Positive blood is at less than a half-day supply and O Negative blood is at a day and a half supply," said Gordon Wilson of Lifeblood Regional Center, emphasizing the urgency of the situation.
The American Red Cross announced Wednesday that it had banned blood donations by all persons who have lived or traveled in Western Europe for a period of six months or longer at any time since 1980, because of fear of contamination of the blood supply by bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow disease."
If this move is matched by other blood collection agencies, it could further reduce the overall blood supply nationwide, according to the Mid-South Blood Center. Hence, recruiting among non-traditional groups of donors, including university students and African-Americans, is now more critical than ever in order to meet the growing needs of medical centers for blood donations.
Clark said some students do not realize the importance of giving blood. "Students are young, healthy people, and it simply doesn't occur to them in their daily lives how blood is needed," she said. "People do not think about the fact that blood is not available to everybody in a hospital until they are faced with it first-hand."
A desire to help someone needing blood is one of the most important motivations for many people giving blood. According to Clark, several students recently donated blood when they heard that a classmate was involved in an accident and needed significant amounts of blood for a transfusion.
But not everybody has friends or family that can donate blood in a medical emergency.
University of Memphis student Katie Flippo said that she donates blood out of a sense of civic duty.
"It feels good to donate blood, because you are saving someone's
life," she said.
Flippo complimented Lifeblood, which has established a reputation for its friendly staff and complimentary snacks and drinks at its donation centers. "The whole process is quick and painless," she said.
The Lifeblood blood donation center closest to the University of Memphis campus is located at 920 Estate, in East Memphis. The center's assistant manager, Jacqueline Clark, said that the center receives some, but not many, donations from students.
"We see more students during school breaks, because students are just too busy with their class schedules during the school term," said Clark. Donations increase during blood drives, when Lifeblood mobiles are dispatched to the campus.
January is National Volunteer Blood Donor Month, and Back Yard Burgers is offering a coupon for a free sandwich of choice to all those who donate blood. Interested students can call the East Memphis Lifeblood center at 767-8585, or visit the organization's website at www.lifeblood.org for more information.
