Area Blood Shortage Is at Critical Stage

Nearly half a million individuals donated blood in Los Angeles and Orange counties last year, but American Red Cross officials said Tuesday that the region is in the midst of the most critical blood shortage in its history.

“A lot of people are coming in, but we need to get more,” said Dr. Steven Kleinman, director of Red Cross blood services. “Right now, we’re rationing blood. A hospital may ask for five units of, say, Group O, but we may be only able to supply two or three.”

The blood supply “routinely” suffers shortages during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, Kleinman said, but donations usually pick up in mid-January.

“The supply is not recovering this year,” he said. Only 2,000 people responded to an appeal earlier this month, while between 4,000 and 5,000 have responded in previous years, he said. As a result, the region’s blood supply is short by about 6,000 units. A unit, about one pint, is the amount of blood drawn from an individual donor.

The current shortage continues a trend that has existed for the past few years, Kleinman said, adding that “the shortages are getting more severe and more prolonged.”

This year’s shortage is due to several factors, ranging from the persistent flu virus affecting Southern California to the unavailability of blood from other areas of the country because they are experiencing shortages of their own.

‘Squeaked Through’

At Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood, “no one has died or has been hurt as a result of the blood shortage, but there have been a couple of instances where we squeaked through closer than we would have liked to,” said Dr. Emmett Reilly, head of the hospital’s blood bank.

Reilly and heads of blood banks at several other hospitals in the region joined Kleinman Tuesday in appealing for additional blood donations.

In one instance, Reilly said, a police officer who had been shot in a narcotics raid continued to bleed, and the hospital did not have enough of his blood type. The officer was fortunate, Reilly said, because fellow officers responded immediately with blood donations.

In another case, a surgeon used a cell saver, a device that in effect recycles a patient’s blood, to stabilize an elderly patient who was suffering abdominal bleeding. The surgeon was able “to get the patient through the night,” Reilly said, until blood for a transfusion became available.

“The patient was lucky that kind of device was available here,” Reilly said. “These are like near misses.”

Anyone 17 or older and in good health may donate blood. Location of the nearest Red Cross blood donation center may be obtained by telephoning (213) 739-5530 in Los Angeles County and (714) 835-5381 in Orange County.