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Saturday, March 01, 2003Despite the current Red Cross shortage, local hospitals said they have not yet experienced problems. Brownsville General Hospital gets its blood products from the Central Blood Bank and has not had any problems, according to Lisa Orris, the laboratory manager. Highlands Hospital is also doing well, though they are supplied by the Red Cross. "We've been fortunate. We haven't had to cancel any elective surgeries and we haven't had any problems meeting emergency needs. We aren't a big user of blood products here," said Denise McCloy, the director of quality and risk management at Highlands. Rich Hancock, the administrative director of the laboratory at Uniontown Hospital, said the shortage hasn't affected that facility either. "We have had no impact as of yet," Hancock said. "We're aware of what the Red Cross is saying and are aware that they are taking actions to maximize their reserves for hospitals." In Connecticut, hospitals are saying the same: Although, Dr. David Krugman, chief pathologist at New Britain General Hospital, said most hospitals, with the exception of those dealing with a larger volume of patients, usually order blood supplies when they are needed. "At New Britain we have a fair amount of elasticity on our shelves, and we have enough blood for day-to-day use, but we do have to make additional orders when the demand calls for it," Krugman said. "The Red Cross is doing what it has to to keep control of their supplies to make sure nothing, especially platelets go to waste." Krugman said regular donations are essential because platelets, extracted from both whole blood and through apheresis, a longer process when blood is separated and necessary components are withdrawn while a donation is being made, have a maximum shelf life of five days. "In some cases by the time the blood is screened and separated the platelets might only be used for two to three days," Krugman said. But, in the South, where a lot of blood was recently taken off the shelf because of clumping, and in parts of the country with recent bad weather that necessitated canceling blood drives, there is a noticeable shortage. Blood has a very short shelf-life, and as a result, the supply is always in a state of flux and vulnerable to the slightest interference with collection - whether by God or by man. posted by Sydney on 3/01/2003 08:42:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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