Blood donation group sees slump in summer activity

The local chapter of the American Red Cross often sees a decline in summer blood donations.

Executive director David Griffith said the popular vacation season often disrupts peoples donation cycle, regular or otherwise, as well as the departure of hundreds of high school and college students in the area.

“When people are taking vacations and traveling, we have more auto accidents and those types of things, so more blood is going to be needed,” Griffith told ABC 17 News. “The supply is down.”

ABC 17 News wanted to check if mid-Missouri’s blood stores would be ready in the case of a mass casualty event, similar to Orlando’s mass shooting Sunday. The area has only one “level one” trauma hospital – University Hospital in Columbia. Griffith said the Red Cross, who sells the donated blood to hospitals, works “for a number of years” with hospitals across the state to respond to their needs, should blood supply run low.

“If we don’t have the blood, if we can’t meet that supply for that particular need, then we look to partners that we have that can help us fill that need,” Griffith said.

Donation centers in Orlando needed to turn people away earlier this week due to the enormous response. OneBlood, a local donation group, encouraged people to schedule donations instead of dropping in, according to local media reports in Florida.

The Red Cross will hold the second day of its donation event at the Truman Building in Jefferson City Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Griffith said the Red Cross has worked on new methods to make donating faster for some, such as a smartphone app and a “Fast Pass.”