WNY Blood Bank Calls for O-Positive, O-Negative Donors

The hospital had to use more than 20 units of O-negative blood and 30 units of O-positive blood for a single trauma patient, draining ConnectLife’s supply of both blood types, according to Sarah Diina, ConnectLife’s senior director of marketing and community development, who noted that this comes at a time when local blood donations are already at an all-time low.

“Unfortunately, this shows how precarious the blood supply can be in the summer,” Diina said in a statement Tuesday. “One incident can have an incredible impact on the ability of local hospitals to provide blood to those who need it.”

Meanwhile, Erie County Medical Center, the region’s only Level 1 trauma center, saw its highest number of trauma activations for the period of July 4-7 over the past four days, according to the hospital’s vice president of communications, Peter Cutler.

“In fact, on July 4, we had 34 trauma cases in our emergency department alone, and over that four-day period, we had a total of 74 trauma activations,” Cutler said.

Although this has put a strain on the hospital’s blood supply, it remains sufficient, for now, to support ECMC’s expected patient load, he added.

“So we know we have enough blood to care for the patients who need our care,” Cutler said.

He said that while ECMC and ConnectLife are very important partners, the hospital has other emergency means to increase its blood supply.

“We agree with them that we encourage the community to donate when and how they can. It helps us tremendously, ConnectLife and all the entities that they provide blood to. So that’s an important part of it all, but in terms of our ability to care for the patients that we need, we have an adequate blood supply here at ECMC,” he said.

The Western New York Red Cross also provides blood to all area hospitals, according to Michael Tedesco, the agency’s regional communications director.

“The O-Negative, in particular, is used in cases where blood is needed quickly and they don’t even have time to determine the patient’s group, because the O-Negative is a universal donor,” Tedesco said.

“We’re in a period right now where, typically, during the summer months, people take a lot of vacations and participate in other types of recreational activities, and we’re seeing a seasonal decline (in the number of donors),” he added.

Nationally, Tedesco said, the decline in donors is compounded by the number of extreme weather events, including floods and hurricanes, that cause blood drives to be canceled. Western New York, however, is less likely to be affected.

“Most of the blood we collect remains local. There may be times when there is a national crisis or emergency and there are requests for additional supplies from different regions, but in most cases our blood is used locally,” Tedesco added.

A bigger problem locally is that there are fewer donors today than there were 20 years ago, he said.

“This may be consistent with trends that many organizations are seeing in volunteering. It may be a generational phenomenon. Certainly, people today have a lot more choice in how they choose to spend their time. I don’t know if we have a specific reason for that. We recognize that we need to continue to reach out to new donors, while keeping those who have donated within the organization,” Tedesco said.

To attract more donors, ConnectLife announced that donors 21 and older will receive two-for-one beer vouchers at local Fattey Beer locations in July, and all donors will be entered into weekly drawings for VIP tickets to Bills training camp.

Western New Yorkers can donate at ConnectLife locations in Williamsville, West Seneca and Tonawanda, or at daily blood drives throughout the area. To schedule an appointment, text GIVEWNY to 999777, visit ConnectLifeGiveBlood.org or call 716-529-4270.

People can find a Red Cross blood drive in the area at redcrossblood.org/give or by calling 800-RED-CROSS.