Blood donations especially important during winter
Associated Press
Amy Reamy donates blood at the Hope for Accreta blood drive at the American Red Cross blood donation center in Hagerstown, Md. She is shown with staff member Amy Zimmerman.
Associated Press
Dustin Walker donates blood at a recent American Red Cross blood drive.
Rick and Chris Schwartzmiller of Washington donate blood regularly at Central Blood Bank in Washington.
For the past 18 years, Rick Schwartzmiller of Washington has been donating blood regularly at Central Blood Bank in Washington.
Just about every 56 days, unless he is ill or unable, Schwartzmiller, 48, shows up for his regular blood donation appointments and his wife, Chris, 46, also donates as often as she can.
While the cold winter weather and snow cancellations haven’t affected the Schwartzmillers’ donation regularity, it has affected donations across the country, according to Marianne Spampinato, communications manager for American Red Cross Blood Services, Pittsburgh.
Spampinato said as of mid-January, 280 Red Cross blood drives were canceled in 25 states due to inclement weather.
“Those drives collectively represented potentially 8,400 platelet blood donations,” said Spampinato. “Locally in the 100-county area, we had 23 blood drives canceled, and those represent approximately 470 potential blood donations.” The Red Cross typically tries to maintain a five-day supply for hospitals.
Central Blood Bank in Pittsburgh reported that its inventory was down by more than 1,000 units in January, and that more than 600 donors canceled appointments during the extremely cold weather.
“Even though we are importing blood from outside the region, we’re still unable to consistently meet the requests for blood from our local hospitals,” said Chris McClure, director of product inventory for Central Blood Bank. The blood bank is urging people to donate, particularly those with blood types O positive and O negative.
Spampinato said that even though the holiday season and bad January weather put donations behind, this time of year is not always the worst: Summer hits the blood banks hard as well because many of their large, annual drives are held at high school and college campuses.
“For the most part, our regular donors remain regular, no matter what the weather conditions or time of year,” said Spampinato. “The only thing that will keep our regulars down is if they have a cold or flu – they cannot donate when they are ill. That can also affect the turnout at blood drives in the fall and winter if it is a particularly bad cold and flu season.”
Being a regular donor became a priority to Rick Schwartzmiller nearly 20 years ago when his nephew, Michael, was diagnosed with leukemia.
“That’s when we both became aware of how important a blood donation can be,” said Chris Schwartzmiller.
Michael lost his battle with the disease when he was a young teen, but the Schwartzmillers have continued with consistent donations. Spampinato said for immune-compromised people like those with cancer and lymphoma, it is better for them to get transfusions from one source, which makes regular donors so important.
“I remember giving in high school,” Chris added. “I would give periodically when there were blood drives that I heard about for certain people. I was never afraid of needles so I never minded the process … We both figure it is the least we can do. It doesn’t bother either of us. The process is fairly smooth and the location is convenient. We both have given to various blood drives, too, for specific people that we know.”
Chris, who is tiny in stature, doesn’t meet the weight requirement to give a full pint of blood, so she gives a light pint instead. Otherwise, a full donation makes her feel ill.
“The most gratifying part of donating to both of us is knowing that something that seems so easy for us to do is needed so much and can really, really help someone. It just seems crazy not to donate. I tell people all the time that it is very easy to do.”
Chris’s donations came full circle for her recently when her 86-year-old mother was admitted to the hospital with brain bleeding after a fall. Ironically, her mother was once awarded a 25-year pin for her consistent blood donations at Central Blood Bank. She used to go with Chris and Rick to donate until just a few years ago.
“She was in ICU and needed platelets,” said Chris. “I was wondering if the platelets she was getting were from Rick. I knew they probably weren’t, but it felt good to know that they could have been – that he actually contributed to the supply. That made the donations very real to me. I felt proud.”
To learn about blood drives being held by the American Red Cross or to become a regular donor log on to Redcrossblood.org. To contact Central Blood Bank to learn about blood drives or to make a donation, log on to www.centralbloodbank.org or call 866-336-DONORS-1.