Blood supplies low, patients left to wait
Arkansans urged to step up donations
Ellie Roy, owner of Argenta Bead Co., waited in her husband’s hospital room as his doctor talked to the hospital staff about an urgency for blood platelets to treat the man she’s been married to for 19 years.
The platelets didn’t arrive that day, as a shortage limited Arkansas Heart Hospital’s supply, Roy said.
“It is really scary to sit there and think, ‘This is one thing that the doctor feels would help him, and it is not available to him,’” Roy said.
A little more than a day later the platelets arrived, but there is a fear of more surgeries and more need for blood in the future, she said.
Arkansas Blood Institute Executive Director Mario Sedlock said summer is always a challenging time for donations as high school and college campuses are closed. Yet, the institute is starting to see some scheduled blood drives canceled because of rising cases of the coronavirus’s delta variant.
“We typically want to have three and five days of inventory on the shelves,” Sedlock said. “At the moment we have less than a three-day supply.”
A nearing holiday weekend also is a concern.
“We anticipate we could see a drop even further,” he said.
Sedlock said usage of blood has been on the increase as well, causing a supply-and-demand challenge. He noted that a number of hospitals in Central Arkansas have contacted the institute recently saying they expect an uptick in the need for blood.
Dr. Tina Ipe, division director of transfusion medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said UAMS is not necessarily seeing a higher need but the blood shortage is being felt at the medical center.
Ipe said that she has seen patients who have had to wait for platelets because there weren’t enough in stock.
“We had to put them on hold,” Ipe said. “We have to take care of the most critically ill. You have to make a lot of ethical decisions about who we have to give blood products to. It is not always easy because we don’t want to be in that position.”
Roy’s husband, Ajit Roy, has been in the hospital for more than a month. The full prognoses is uncertain but it started with pancreatitis, which caused dehydration, anemia and pneumonia.
His lung collapsed and he was placed on a ventilator, and the procedure possibly caused bleeding that pooled in a chest cavity, Roy said. His heart stopped during surgery but he was revived. The bleeding continued, which caused a need for the platelets, she said.
Ajit, owner of Ajit Roy Designs, has been sedated for much of his hospital stay, Ellie Roy said. He briefly woke up on their anniversary.
“He was like, ‘Let’s go out to dinner,’” Roy said. “I was like, ‘I don’t think we are leaving the hospital quite yet.’ He had a cup of ice cream and I had a bowl of cereal and that was our anniversary dinner.”
He went back to being sedated after, Roy said.
Roy said she has always been a blood donor but now realizes the importance of it fully.
“Now that it has been in my face and affected my life, I know people need blood,” Roy said. “Who knew how to anticipate that my husband was going to need so much blood?”
Roy went on her business Facebook page last week pleading for people to donate.
“I’m asking everyone in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma to please donate platelets of blood,” she said.
The blood shortage is more than just Arkansas, said John Brimley, regional manager for the American Red Cross of Missouri and Arkansas.
He said the Red Cross has sent 12% more blood products to hospitals across the nation. He said higher distributions have been needed in areas where the pandemic disrupts normal blood collection operations.
Brimley said Friday that his organization regionally hasn’t seen as many problems with the supply and has been able to meet its targets for 17 consecutive months, totaling about 19,000 units.
Nationally, blood banks are starting to take steps to help one another through a new initiative called the Blood Emergency Readiness Corps, Sedlock said. He said the program will make it easier for blood banks across the nation to share blood in mass casualty situations.
“We are very fortunate that we haven’t had anything like that happen, and we want to be available to help others and others to help us in a time of need,” Sedlock said.
Locally, Sedlock asks that people find a drive and donate or host a drive.
“The most effective way to help is if you are able to host a blood drive, whether it be a church or community drive,” Sedlock said.
More information on hosting a drive or donating is available from the Arkansas Blood Institute at arkbi.org or from the Red Cross at www.redcross.org.