Blood Supplies Low as Flu Cuts Into Donations

The flu season has sapped people’s strength along with Ventura County’s blood supply.

Supplies at United Blood Services, the county’s only blood provider, are off 80%, spokeswoman Patty Hunt said.

“Our refrigerator is basically empty. . . . We have only a handful of pints available,” she said.

The dip in supplies started in early December when many of the center’s regular donors came down with the flu, making them contagious and thus ineligible to give blood.

But in the last two weeks, Hunt said, the shortage has worsened.

The nonprofit group now has only about half a day’s supply of blood, down from the five or six days’ supply it usually has on hand for distribution to hospitals in the county.

“We always anticipate a shortage during the winter,” Hunt said. “But this year, the supply is considerably tighter. It’s the lowest I’ve seen in three years.”

United Blood is particularly short on supplies of Type O, the most compatible and therefore most widely used blood type.

Of the 60 units on hand at the center’s Ventura office Thursday afternoon, none were of the O variety.

While the blood provider’s stocks are low, hospitals in the county have sufficient supplies to meet their day-to-day needs, Hunt said.

“But there is no cushion in case of an emergency,” she said.

The center’s bloodmobile is in the community collecting blood almost every day.

On Thursday, it was parked at the County Government Center gathering donations from employees.

Inside, Air Pollution Control District employee Kent Field said he donates blood every two months as part of his charity work.

“They call me; I come in, “ Field said as he left with his March appointment card in hand.

After hearing about the shortage, Keith Allen, an employee with the Flood Control Department, said he signed up.

“I’m the right kind of strong, hearty, all-American guy to do this,” the 40-year-old said prior to parting with a pint of his blood.

United Blood employee Beverley Drury, who was greeting donors entering the bloodmobile, said her life was saved by a blood donation.

In 1987, the Oxnard resident said, she almost died from pneumonia and chronic bronchitis, but was saved by a blood transfusion from a stranger.

“I was at death’s door and the doctor said, ‘Let’s try one last thing--a blood transfusion’ . . . and it worked,” she said. “I’m alive because of generous donors like these.”

The bloodmobile will be at the United Methodist Church, 120 Church Road, Ojai, on Saturday; Temple Etz Chaim, 1080 E. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks, on Sunday, and behind the Fillmore Post Office, 333 Central Ave., on Monday. Times are from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Appointments for all locations can be made by calling 654-8104 or (800) 715-3699.