Spring Illnesses Challenge Blood Center April 6, 2016

LEXINGTON, KY – Apparently, spring is here, but the cold and flu season is still hanging around. Stomach bugs and the flu have hit the community hard recently, and Kentucky Blood Center is feeling the effects.

Some blood drives have been called off because host sites – such as high schools and factories – have had too many sick students or employees to have the drives. Other drives have been cancelled because of KBC staff illnesses.

KBC is asking eligible donors to give blood soon to help maintain the community’s blood supply.

We usually have to make pleas like this in the dead of winter when weather and sickness frequently affect blood drives. But this spring illnesses are still impacting our blood collections, and it doesn’t take too many blood drive cancellations to hit the blood supply hard. We’re asking anyone who can do so to donate soon to help Kentucky patients who require transfusions,” said KBC’s Executive Director of Marketing & Recruitment Martha Osborne.

Donor centers are listed below, and mobile blood drive locations can be found at kybloodcenter.org.

KBC, founded nearly 50 years ago, is the largest independent, full-service, non-profit blood center in Kentucky. Licensed by the FDA, KBC’s sole purpose is to collect, process and distribute blood for patients in Kentucky hospitals.

All blood that is donated with KBC is returned to the Beaumont Donor Center where it is processed, prepared and stored for shipment to Kentucky hospitals.

Blood needs are ongoing. Red cells last only 42 days and must be continually replenished to adequately support Kentucky hospitals. Statistics show that one in seven hospital patients will require blood transfusions during their stay. However, only 37 percent of the population is eligible to donate blood and less than 10 percent does. All blood types are needed, and there is a particular need for type O negative blood since it is the “universal donor” and needed in emergencies when the patient’s blood type is unknown.

The blood already on the shelf is the blood used in an emergency. That’s why KBC is always encouraging people to donate blood.