Megan Navarro
BUDA — After donation centers being forced to shut down due to the winter storm and supplies remaining low post-holiday season, We Are Blood and other local entities are encouraging the community to step up and participate in upcoming blood drives.
Since being founded by the Travis County Medical Society in 1951, 501(c)(3) organization We Are Blood has served as the provider and protector of the Central Texas Blood supply across its 10-county region, including Hays County, saving lives at more than 50 medical facilities. One way that it does this is by partnering with companies, schools, churches, neighborhoods and more in its communities to host approximately 100 mobile blood drives a month, available seven days a week, as well as offering four donor center locations.
The Central Texas area has increasingly grown rapidly over the past decade, as well as the need for We Are Blood’s services. Compared to 10 years ago, the organization provides 96% more platelets and 55% more red cells annually for local patients; it anticipates a further 25% increase in the amount of blood products needed for local patients by 2030.
That need is still there today, said vice president of community engagement Nick Canedo, as We Are Blood always sees a drop in donation numbers during the holiday season because people are traveling on vacation and school is not in session. Also, blood drives had to recently shut down for days, due to the winter storm in January.
“Every January and February, We Are Blood is bracing for what this year's winter storm might do to the community because when the community gets shut down because of the sleet, snow and rain conditions on the road, unfortunately, that means We Are Blood is unable to host mobile blood drives because we do not want to be driving around those large mobile trucks on the roads,” he explained.
The donor center closures and blood drive cancellations during the winter storm left a loss of hundreds of anticipated donations. We Are Blood needs to collect 200 blood donations every day; just on Thursday, Feb. 5, Canedo said they donated 289 to the partner hospitals for transfusions.
Canedo explained that they got into a shortage situation of O negative — the universal donor type — and platelet donations of all blood types, as platelets only have a usable shelf life of seven days from the day they are collected.
“It means that every single day, we are looking very closely at how many platelet donations we have coming in because it’s such a precious commodity,” he said. “All that led to that shortage coming out of the winter storm and we continue to struggle at this point, especially with O negative donations. The donations are really significantly needed right now [as] we are still rebuilding from the winter storm, but still struggling.”
Locally, the Buda Fire Department (BFD) is partnering with We Are Blood to host a blood drive from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 21, inside the Bloodmobile Bus in the parking lot at 209 Jack C. Hays Trail, Buda.
Knowing that blood is carried on its ambulances, it’s important to BFD that it doesn’t only use the system, but also actively supports it by helping bring donation opportunities directly into the field, said EMS Division Chief Sam Schuleman. This will also help rebuild the supply that faltered during the winter storm.
“The winter storm forced donor centers to close and cancel multiple blood drives and that immediately put a strain on supply. Hosting this drive is our way of stepping up and helping rebuild that supply quickly, especially knowing how many patients across Central Texas depend on it every day,” Schuleman said. “The fire department sees firsthand how blood saves lives, sometimes before a patient even reaches the hospital, so this is personal to us.”
The donations that are given will not go directly to BFD, rather We Are Blood will match the donation up with the correct recipient. However, the department still uses the organization as its main donor supply.
Schuleman said that all blood types are needed, but echoed Canedo’s sentiments that O types are critically important.
Both BFD and We Are Blood encourage those in the community to attend local drives, like the one coming up Feb. 21, or donor centers since donations are needed every single day.
“A lot of folks think about donating blood or a blood drive in the aftermath of community-wide events, like a weather event or a mass casualty event, but every single day, folks are receiving blood transfusions,” Canedo noted. “We are talking about surgery patients receiving transfusions through the normal courses of surgery or if surgery didn’t go the way we hope, we are talking about mothers and newborns who experience complications during surgery. We are talking about cancer patients, who, oftentimes, are receiving transfusions through the course of their treatment with cancer.”
“Donating blood is simple and quick. It takes about 45 minutes total, with only about 15 minutes of that being spent actually donating,” Schuleman said. “It's a small time commitment that can make a huge difference.”
To learn more about We Are Blood or find information about donating, visit www.weareblood.org.
