Delaware Valley blood banks are asking people to roll up their sleeves amid national shortage in donations

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Intense heat, busy travel schedules and an increase in accidents and injuries from summer activities are all having an impact on blood donations and supply.

Major organizations like the American Red Cross declared an emergency shortage earlier this month. Officials said donations were down 25% in July compared to the same time last year.

Ahead of the fall hurricane season, which has the potential for major disasters and trauma, public health experts are hoping that more people will answer the call to help restock local blood banks.

That’s exactly what Shardai LeMon, of New Castle, Delaware, did when she got a notification last week alerting her to the shortage. She donated blood Thursday at the Blood Bank of Delmarva.

“It makes me feel good,” LeMon said. “I’m a librarian, so I’m helping people on a small scale at the library — helping somebody with the books, helping somebody find information on a computer. And here I feel like I’m doing something on a bigger scale. Actually saving a life.”

About 62% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, but only 3% actually do so, data show.

Officials at the American Red Cross said extreme heat has canceled or shortened at least 100 blood drives nationally in the last month, including 13 in the Philadelphia area alone.

Cancellations of local blood drives, which support nearby hospitals and health centers, is especially tough for a city like Philadelphia, said Alana Mauger, spokesperson for the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania.

“We don’t even collect enough to satisfy our local need,” Mauger said. “We import from other areas, from New Jersey, from other parts of Pennsylvania, from New York. We have to import blood collected elsewhere because of the number of medical centers that rely on that blood in Philadelphia.”

The summer shortage makes that local supply even more precarious, Mauger said, at least until the fall when regular blood drives usually pick back up at high schools, colleges and workplaces.

Health providers and patients rely on donated blood and platelets for emergency trauma and injuries, cancer treatment, sickle cell disease and other conditions.

Blood banks are in need of O-Positive blood, the most common blood type, and O-Negative, the universal donor. Blood banks prefer to have a seven-day inventory of O blood types, but anything less than three days is a cause for concern, said Tony Prado, spokesperson for Blood Bank of Delmarva.

“For a number of reasons, type O blood, whether it was O-positive or -negative, fell below that three-day level [here],” he said. “We had to ask local residents to step up and help.”

Donated blood can be stocked for about 42 days until it must be used or disposed of. Platelets have even a shorter shelf life of five days.

Mauger said donating blood can be easy. If people make an appointment ahead of time at their local donation center or at a community event, the entire process from arrival to finish can take about one hour.

The actual blood donation part only lasts about eight to 10 minutes, she said. Platelet donation can be a longer process lasting about 2 to 3 hours.

Ashley Malinowski, of Middletown, Delaware, who is O-Positive, has donated blood since 2019. She said she wants to assure people there’s nothing to fear.

“It’s not scary at all,” Malinowski said after making a recent donation at the Blood Bank of Delmarva’s Newark location. “And they’ve got great snacks at the end.”