By TAMMIE TOLER
PRINCETON — With the season of giving just around the corner, American Red Cross officials are reminding Four Seasons Country residents to keep giving the most precious gift of all — the gift of life.
Winter holidays typically bring a slump in donations, as loyal donors face full schedules of travel, shopping and family activities. This year, with collections already down due to the nation’s economic woes and H1N1 flu fright, Red Cross officials are working hard to get the word out that blood donations are one of the most precious presents.
Red Cross Regional Coordinator Troy Stiffler said the area of southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia has an adequate blood supply for the near future, but a steady stream of willing donors is still needed in coming weeks and months to make sure the banks stays strong.
“The Red Cross has very strict guidelines about blood supplies and when we can put out the word that we’re facing a critical shortage,” Stiffler said. “This is not one of those situations, but we do want to make sure people understand the importance of donating blood, even during the holidays.”
That need is something Stiffler said many people forget until it touches their families.
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Justin Meadows’ family knows all too well.
On May 29, 2008, the young Summers County man went for a ride on his motorcycle. Before he reached home, Meadows was involved in a near-fatal crash that left him fighting for his life. He sustained a broken neck, internal organ damage and wounds that eventually claimed his right leg. When he reached Charleston Area Medical Center’s trauma unit, doctors reportedly gave him a 6 percent chance of survival.
One of the most pressing needs was blood and blood products to replace what Meadows lost in the wreck and immediately after. He received 100 units of blood and/or blood products, just to give him a chance at survival.
“Justin’s mom always says that it took an unselfish act of generosity from 100 people to save her only son’s life,” Stiffler said.
Meadows lost his leg due to his injuries, but he’s alive today, in large part because the American Red Cross’s blood bank was stocked sufficiently to handle his emergency.
To show his appreciation, Meadows and his family are now loyal blood donors in hopes that they can save someone else’s life.
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Stiffler reported that the 11 local counties he serves used 6,100 units of blood during fiscal year 2009. Nationally, trauma centers, operating rooms and emergency facilities use approximately 15 million units per year.
Donations have met the need this far into FY 2010, but Stiffler and Walker Nelms, who oversees the Red Cross’s Appalachian regional blood services, were concerned this week that a drop in businesses able to host blood drives and swine flu fears could take substantial tolls on banks throughout the area.
“The blood supply is good now, but we have seen a decrease in the number of people who are giving,” Nelms said.
On the surface, blood donations and the economy may not appear connected, but Nelms explained that many drives are hosted by businesses with large numbers of employees on site.
Layoffs and hour reductions have limited the numbers of workers available for collections drives, and the employees who remain on the job are sometimes simply too busy to leave their workstations.
Add a potential swine flu pandemic, and there could be a bigger-than-normal drop in donations through the holidays.
Absenteeism has already been a factor in decreased donations, as flu and cold bugs have kept students away from drives at high schools and colleges.
Another trend Nelms and Stiffler both noticed is that donors are increasingly staying away from blood drives because they worry they’ll either catch the flu at the drive or that giving blood will compromise their immunity and make them more likely to contract the flu.
“There is no evidence that donating increases your propensity to get the flu at all,” Nelms said.
For donors looking to get the H1N1 or seasonal flu vaccines, there is no waiting period required after donating blood.
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On the other side of blood donation, the Red Cross is following all recommended precautions from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control to ensure that blood containing viruses is not administered to anyone.
Anyone feeling ill is prohibited from donating blood during drives. That’s a rule Stiffler said the Food and Drug Administration set and the Red Cross adheres to closely.
Each Red Cross donor also receives a form at the time of their donation advising them of a hotline number to call if they become ill in the days following donation. This allows the health officials to be on the lookout for that blood unit.
Red Cross professionals at donor centers separate the units into red blood cells, platelets and plasma. There, the blood is also put through the paces of 14 tests, 11 of which are for infectious agents such as HIV. Although the influenza virus is not believed to be present in the blood prior to the onset of symptoms, units of any donor who reports an illness soon after giving blood will be tested for viremia, or the presence of any virus in their blood. In the event a virus is detected, the blood unit is destroyed.
“The Red Cross really is taking every possible precaution in testing procedures,” Stiffler said.
For more information, visit www.arcgiveblood.org.
— Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net.
