Faced with uncomfortably low inventories, The Blood Bank of Delmarva is urging donors to make an appointment or just walk in over the holiday weekend.
Michael Waite, Director of Marketing & Community Relations for the Blood Bank of Delmarva says concerns over inventory levels deemed “not optimal,” especially going in to a holiday weekend, are behind the request for donors.
"This just seemed to be the perfect storm of not only is this a busy vacation week, but the way that the holiday falls," Waite said. "And because it now makes it a three-day weekend it's going to be particularly tough on us. We're sitting here with almost a three day period that we would not have [substantial] donations."
[caption id="attachment_64320" align="alignright" width="300"]https://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/carper-donates-blood-300x184.jpg Sen. Tom Carper (Delaware - D), a regular donor, gave at the Blood Bank of Delmarva's Dover donation center Wednesday.[/caption]
Blood Bank Community Relations Manager Mary Konwinski says that’s because donations tend to drop off when people are faced with the distractions of summer.
“On a pretty day its sometimes asking a lot for someone to come into a building and have us stick needles into them," she said. "But we do try to make our donors feel very comfortable and we have great cookies and juice."
The need is greatest for O-negative type blood because of its universal properties, but stockpiles of O-positive and A-positive are also below the desired limits to adequately supply 18 hospitals in Delaware and Maryland.
More than 350 donors a day are required to meet the needs of the Blood Bank of Delmarva’s hospitals.
Konwinski continued to say that one single donation can save up to three lives.
"We take each whole blood donation and we break it down into its component parts," she said, referring to the red blood cells, plasma and platelets that comprise a bag of donated blood.
"That is the most judicious way to use a unit of blood so that a particular component will go to a patient with a particular health need."
However platelets, blood cells vital to the coagulation process, only have a shelf-life of just five days, and supplies are diminished as the holiday weekend sees a smaller number of regular donations.
To find out how to donate blood visit the Blood Bank of Delmarva's website or call (888) 8-BLOOD-8.