![]() MBS is always accepting donations at their three permanent sites in Cleveland, Flowood, and Oxford. Businesses, organizations, and even individuals host their own blood drives to help benefit area hospitals and medical centers. There are many blood drives around the Golden Triangle, and there is easy access to them. All blood types are needed though, and those with AB are encouraged to donate as that is the most rare blood type. In Columbus, there is a critical need for O-Positive blood, which is to not be confused with O-Negative as the universal donor, Gilmore said. I think people were just looking for a reason not to donate, maybe. “We’ve had longtime donors, because of the mask regulations, refuse to donate until it’s lifted. On a five bed coach, we could only put two people and draw two donors at one time,” LeBreton said. “Within our coaches that go out and get the blood, we have to maintain (Food and Drug Administration) COVID protocols, which are masks for both donor and worker. ![]() Once loyal donors are no longer coming out to drives, said Anna LeBreton, outreach coordinator for MBS. MBS has noticed a significant drop in donors across Mississippi. However, other areas across the state have not been so lucky with their blood drives. “With COVID, we still proceeded with our three blood drives a year, and Vitalant, who we do our drives with, had protocols in place such as wearing everyone wearing a mask and vigorously wiping down seats and areas inside the buses that patients may have touched,” Deese said. However, there are some walk-ups at blood drives as well. On average, 35 to 40 people sign up to give blood but some are turned away due to not meeting the requirements but also some are no-shows. Also because of the transmission rate of COVID, many people have been trying to stay home.ĭeese said even with COVID, Oktibbeha County residents are still making it out to the OSERVS blood drives. ![]() More sick people mean less healthy people to get out and give blood. Looney cited two reasons COVID severely impacted the blood shortage: a higher number of people in the hospital due to illnesses and morbidity and mortality have increased. We were always kind of running at a shortage, but then when the pandemic hit that really compounded things.” “It has an expiration date, so we can’t just store it for months and months or years and years because it’s a kind of living thing. It’s a very valuable but finite resource,” Looney said. It is a valuable resource, kind of like gold. “We’re never really happy with where we’re at (on blood supply). Because of its short shelf life and quick use in an overwhelmed medical system, blood is in even higher demand than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world. Ryan Looney, an internal medicine specialist with OCH Medical Associates in Starkville. One donor can positively affect up to three lives.”īlood has a shelf life - usefulness outside of the body - of approximately 42 days, or six weeks, Dr. “Because blood cannot be manufactured outside the human body and has a limited shelf life, generous donors must constantly replenish the supply. “Every two seconds of every day someone in the world needs blood,” Deese said. Wednesday at its office at 501 Highway 12 West. OSERVS will host its first blood drive of the year from noon to 5:30 p.m. In the end, donors are the only source for medical centers to get blood. There are only a few ways hospitals can receive blood, but the biggest resource for blood is drives such as those OSERVS and MBS hold. “You’d think it would be trauma or surgeries, but generally the brunt of it is in-patient use.” “A large percentage, surprisingly, are for in-patient use, like for oncology patients or just patients that have a real need and come in with low blood or anemia,” Gilmore said.
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