LOS ANGELES : Blood Supply Critically Inadequate, Red Cross Says
Blood donations throughout the Los Angeles area have been extremely low during the holiday season, leaving supplies critically inadequate, an American Red Cross spokesman said Tuesday.
“People haven’t signed up to give blood over the holidays,” said Manuel Rivas of the Los Angeles chapter of the Red Cross. “A lot of people have illnesses, colds and flu, and so didn’t give blood.”
Typically, only about 160,000 of the area’s about 13 million residents give blood each year to the Red Cross, which supplies blood to all local hospitals.
“We’re trying to increase the number of people who donate blood,” Rivas said. “The Southern California area has not been self-sufficient.”
To illustrate the shortage, Rives said the Red Cross likes to have on hand 1,189 units of O positive blood, the most common type. Currently, only 289 units, or 24% of the desired amount, are in stock, he said.
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