The New York Blood Center has declared its second “blood emergency” of 2024 due to a critically low supply of O-negative blood, which is the type that may be used to treat any patient.
Chelsey Smith, a representative of the Center, told Gothamist that the organization always likes to keep seven days’ worth of blood on hand for all blood types. Thus, a blood emergency usually arises when “our inventory drops below a seven-day supply, that’s cause for concern.”
According to the Blood Center, in order to provide local hospitals with blood, it needs to receive around 2,000 individual donations each day. Among those who benefit from the blood are cancer patients, burn and accident sufferers, trauma victims, mothers who lose too much blood after childbirth, and newborns.
Because O-negative blood type is compatible with all other blood types, it is the most widely utilized blood type in emergency departments, according to Smith. There is always a demand for blood donations since a red blood cell has a shelf life of approximately 42 days, making it perishable.
The health care community refers to the summer as “trauma season” because of the high number of accidents that occur during these three months. Seasonal blood shortages ominously occur precisely in winter and summer, since that is when most individuals leave on vacation.
However, this does not imply that patients in need of transfusions won’t receive them if the inventory falls short of the optimal seven-day supply. One reason is that, according to Smith, blood emergency declarations, which may be issued a few times each year, often work to increase the number of donors who give promptly.
