Wednesday, February 09, 2011
 
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Winter storm places freeze on blood supplies

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[February 09, 2011]  SPRINGFIELD -- Last week's blizzard left more than drivers digging themselves out of a hole. Blood banks across the state are scrambling to meet demand after a week of canceled blood drives.

Insurance"In addition to all the restaurants, stores, business and offices being closed, a lot of people forget what happened to the blood banks," said Margaret Vaughn, government affairs director of the Illinois Coalition of Community Blood Centers. "Over 60 blood drives had to be canceled, over 5,000 units of blood lost."

The numbers come from an aggregation of the coalition's six independent community blood centers across the state, such as the Mississippi Valley Blood Center and Central Illinois Community Blood Center.

Kirby Winn, director of public relations for the Mississippi Valley Blood Center, said his center lost more than just two days of donations from the "unprecedented" storm.

"It was devastating. The storm really hit on Tuesday and then overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, but our first cancellations were on Monday," said Winn, who pointed to cancellations even after the storm was over.

Most centers try to keep at least a five-day blood supply on hand, but demand is unpredictable, said Jacyln Thomson, a donor recruiter for the Rock Valley Blood Center.

"What will happen is that some traumas will take over this weekend, and then we'll get a call from the hospital saying we're running low on blood," Thomson said. "Come Monday, we are going to have to replenish that blood supply."

The Rock Valley Blood Center had to cancel or postpone its drives last week, collecting only 20 of the 60 pints they had anticipated.

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In dealing with an inventory shortage, centers deliver only where blood is needed, keeping the rest in reserves, said Winn.

In extreme emergencies, however, centers will ship in resources from other states. To deal with the shortage in its community, the Mississippi Valley Blood Center accepted donations from Iowa and Florida.

For now, centers are working to reschedule blood drives and ramp up donor recruitment.

"The reason why people do get transfusions, those don't really go away due to a snow storm," Winn said. "It's because of heart surgery, trauma and blood loss -- events that all will take place, unfortunately, no matter what the weather is like."

[Illinois Statehouse News; By MELISSA LEU]

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