As the nation’s blood supply hits crisis levels, local American Red Cross officials want to attract more people to Salem churches, hospitals and government offices to give blood. The American Red Cross announced a national blood crisis on Monday, July 27. Two weeks prior, it had declared a nati onal shortage after the supply fell about 25% in June. The crisis developed as donorship stalled, with heat, poor air quality and foodborne illnesses further contributing to the low turnout.  SIGN UP: Salem Reporter is dedicated to covering the people, issues, and stories that shape our community. Stay connected to Salem. Subscribe today. The shortage came at a time of year when demand for blood often grows as hospitals see more trauma patients, while donations decline as kids go on summer break, people graduate from school and take vacations.  Stephen Grady, who oversees Red Cross blood drives in Marion County, saw the shortage coming.  “You see the truck coming and you’re like, ‘It’s gonna hit me.’ That was June, and then in July was like, ‘Oh wham, here it is,’” Grady said. Though it isn’t uncommon for the nation’s blood supply to dip in the summer, this is the first time Grady has seen a shortage escalate so quickly. This is the second supply crisis the Red Cross has ever called. Nationally, the Red Cross has less than a one-day supply of the most transfused blood type, O-positive. It is now limiting distributions of that blood type to hospitals.  Grady said hospitals are nearing a “tipping point,” where they might have to make difficult decisions to conserve blood.  That could mean delaying care.  “When we really start to hear that surgeries are being rescheduled because we don’t have the blood to supply those patients – that’s the big impact,” Grady said.  So far, Salem Hospital hasn’t had to adjust how it uses blood products, Laboratory Manager Jenny Clow said in an email.  “If the American Red Cross does not have inventory to sustain our normal blood product levels, Salem Hospital follows the blood shortage action plan,” Clow said. “When this happens, providers are notified of the shortage, and stable patients may have their blood orders assessed prior to transfusion.” For Grady, avoiding that scenario starts with bringing more people to the donor chair.  “We have plenty of open appointments, and if those appointments were filled, we’d be in good shape,” he said. The local Red Cross hosts up to 30 blood drives a month in Marion County, along with regular intakes at its facility in northeast Salem. At each drive, Grady and his team hope to have at least 20 successful donations. On Friday, the team’s bus, which houses a mobile blood draw unit, was parked at a downtown church. Looking down at his phone, Grady counted the day’s registrations. “I have 11 people signed up, and out of those 11 people, probably nine of them will come and seven of them will successfully donate,” he said. Those numbers, though below target, aren’t disheartening for Grady. “It’s motivating because clearly, there’s more work to be done to help people understand why this is important,” he said. The lifespan of a blood bag Every blood bag begins with a volunteer in a donor chair. What happens next can send that blood to the local hospital or across the country.  Blood collected in Salem can end up at Salem Hospital to be used during surgery, cancer treatment or a medical emergency. It could also be routed hundreds of miles away to communities grappling with disasters like a winter storm.  Before any of that happens, each donation is vetted. Units collected by Grady’s team are sent up to a Portland lab for testing. Once cleared, donations are loaded into refrigerated trucks and driven to hospitals throughout the region.  For Marion County, the biggest client is Salem Hospital, according to Grady.  Each afternoon, Red Cross volunteers replenish the hospital’s expansive blood blank with new deliveries.  Despite the national shortage, the hospital’s shelves have stayed stocked for all blood types, according to Clow. The facility has over 300 bags of whole blood, plasma, platelets, red blood cells and other blood products. The blood bank is “very busy supporting the emergency room, operating room, oncology services, the NICU and more,” Clow said in an email.  Last year alone, the hospital transfused over 10,000 donated blood products, including about 8,000 red blood cells and 1,500 platelets.   What’s it like to give blood? A blood donation starts with a person volunteering at least an hour of his or her time.  Grady says there are three common reasons people don’t regularly venture to give blood: fear, inconvenience and busyness. “When I was younger, (I) would have driven past all those signs and just been like, ‘Not me, not today, because that’s kind of unknown and scary,’” he said. “But the truth is it’s just a pinch, and it’s worth it because you really do make a difference for somebody, someone you’ll never meet.” Donations begin with a questionnaire covering personal health history and any recent travel.  “There are questions on there like ‘Do you have a tattoo?’ or ‘Have you traveled?’ And in both of those cases, you can say ‘Yes’ and still be able to donate,” Grady said. Afterward, donors meet privately with staff who may ask follow-up questions and conduct what Grady calls a “mini-physical.” Staff check blood pressure, pulse and iron levels using a non-invasive thumb sensor. If everything looks good, people can then go to the donation bed.  Though supplies of O-positive are the lowest, Grady said all donors are important. “If I’m O-negative, my red cells can go to everybody, but my plasma can only go to other O-negatives. If I’m AB-positive, my red cells can only go to other AB-positives, but my plasma can go to everybody,” Grady explained. “Everybody has something to give.” The next drive, at the top of Grady’s priority list, is Wednesday, July 29, at Salem Hospital. It will run from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in Building C at the hospital’s main campus, 875 Oak St. S.E. Organizers hope to fill 58 appointment slots. Appointments to give blood at a mobile event or the local Red Cross building can be made online. Drop-ins are often accepted. Contact reporter Hailey Cook: [email protected] . The post Amid nationwide crisis, local Red Cross seeks to fill gaps in donorship appeared first on Salem Reporter. ...read more read less