American Red Cross Blood Supply Remains At Critical Level
Main Category: Blood / HematologyAlso Included In: Transplants / Organ Donations
Article Date: 25 Jan 2007 - 0:00 PDT
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Nearly 70 percent of all people will need a blood transfusion in their lifetime. Will the blood be there when you or your loved ones need it? Currently blood supplies remain at a critical level throughout Michigan. Only willing blood donors can help the American Red Cross be prepared to help patients with life-threatening illnesses and injuries.
"Every day, patients throughout the region rely on hospitals for the blood they need," says Robertson Davenport, M.D., medical director, blood bank and transfusion services, University of Michigan Health System. "A man needs emergency heart surgery. A woman with liver failure receives a liver transplant. A baby girl born with a serious heart defect has cardiac surgery. A young woman with leukemia undergoes chemotherapy. A man is severely injured in a motor vehicle accident. Any one of these patients could be someone you know. Hospitals rely on the American Red Cross to supply the blood that patients need. All of us are relying on the generosity of blood donors who give to their community."
According to the Southeastern Michigan Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross, statewide blood inventory for type O-negative, the blood most needed by hospitals, has remained below adequate supply levels since early winter. There is, however, an urgent request for all blood types in order to meet the demands throughout the region.
"We are thankful for everyone who has donated blood in the past and for everyone who will donate in the future. Lives are depending on it," Davenport adds.
Blood donors must be at least 17 yeas of age, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good general health.
American Red Cross Southeastern Michigan Blood Services Region
http://www.semredcross.org
Visit our blood / hematology section for the latest news on this subject.
MLA
16 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/61557.php>
APA
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/61557.php.
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Visitor Opinions In Chronological Order (4)
Red Cross Blood "Shortages"??
posted by Cheryl Mellan on 29 Jan 2007 at 2:18 pmIt is truly a regrettable and frustrating situation for me every time I see articles such as this one - "American Red Cross Blood Supply Remains At Critical Level."
In 1999 the US Food and Drug Administration provided us with "Variances for Blood Collection from Individuals with Hereditary Hemochromatosis."
http://www.fda.gov/cber/gdlns/hemchrom.htm
Hereditary Hemochromatosis (HHC) is an inherited condition of abnormal iron metabolism; it is not a blood disease. Individual with hemochromatosis absorb too much iron from the diet. Iron cannot be excreted, therefore the metal can reach toxic levels in **tissues of major organs** such as the liver, heart, pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, and joints. Treatment consists of lowering iron levels through therapeutic phlebotomy - the exact procedure you experience as a blood donor.
The blood of a hemochromatotic is no more "iron rich" than any other persons. Excess iron collects in tissue, organs and synovium. Left untreated, it causes disease to the hemochromatosis patient - NOT to the recipient of blood given in donation.
Many many blood procurement facilities across the United States gratefully accept blood donated by hemochromatosis patients. The National Institutes of Health receives more than 15% of its donated blood from hemochromatosis patients. Take a moment to consider that......good enough for the United States National Institutes of Health - but not the Red Cross. Literally thousand upon thousand units of healthy blood being discarded as hazardous waste..........and then RBC cries "critical shortage." I have difficulty understanding the reasoning of this situation.
The American Red Cross, until recently has not deemed this blood worthy for use. Recently a very small pilot program was initiated in the northwest.
Too little too late perhaps? Why are they not held accountable?
I challenge not only the American Red Cross, but Medical News Today to investigate this situation. I urge you to learn more about hemochromatosis and the valuable resource of blood that is refused by the RBC. The National Institutes of Health, and their Hemochromatosis Blood Program would be an excellent starting point. http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/dtm/donor_patient/dtm_HH_protocol.htm
Very sincerely,
Cheryl Mellan
933 Lancaster Street
Marietta, Ohio 45750
(740) 374-2703
Failed Policy
posted by Todd Blanchard on 30 Jan 2007 at 10:08 amI have hereditary hemochromatosis - as described in the above article. A few things that were left out.
The Red Cross limits donations to once per 8 weeks. HHC people with normal iron levels can donate twice as often with their doctor's approval. So one HHC person can be worth two regular donors. Furthermore, the HHC person is likely to show up at regular intervals, not just when the spirit moves him.
One might also surmise that HHC is rare and thus the cost of altering procedures to accommodate this segment of the population is excessive given the potential benefit.
Current estimates are that 1 in 10 people carry one gene for HHC, and 1 in 200 people carry both of the genes required to manifest HHC. Married with the liklihood that the HHC donor will be much more likely to show up on a regular schedule, HHC donors can play a very significant role in America's blood supply.
They already do in Europe where HHC donors have been accepted for many years now.
Blood Giving - HHC
posted by Tony on 28 Feb 2011 at 10:38 amlast year i was diagnosed with hhc. i paid about $90 per pint (after insurance) to throw away 14 pints of blood. it was dropped in the chemo incinerate box every time.
the last two visits there was literally a chemo patient sitting next to me with anemia (low iron) scheduled to receive a transfusion the next day.
it's sad and wasteful to discard perfectly good blood, and only increases our collective healthcare costs.
i expect that i'll need to draw 4 to 8 pints of blood a year for a significant portion of the rest of my life and would like to see it put to good use, rather than destroyed.
American Diabetes Fdn Explanation For Red Cross
posted by Greg Winkler on 22 Nov 2011 at 10:08 amHere is an excerpt from the American Diabetes Fdn offering an explanation for Red Cross' refusal to accept HHC. If true, this is truly shameful logic on the part of the Red Cross:
"The American Red Cross, which controls about 45% of the nation's blood supply, does not currently accept donations from people with known hemochromatosis. Everyone agrees that the blood is safe and of high quality. There is no risk of passing on a genetic disease through blood transfusions. But the Red Cross has a long-standing policy that potential donors are not allowed to receive direct compensation for their donation (beyond the usual orange juice and cookie). Because people with hemochromatosis would otherwise have to pay for their therapeutic phlebotomies, they would in effect be getting something of value for being able to donate for free. Thus the Red Cross has ruled that such donations violate their policy."
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