Red Cross: Blood donations way down in metro Atlanta, region

A minor change in medication caused major consequences for Don McLaughlin.

Last July, McLaughlin, a Dunwoody minister, switched acid reflux medications. By September, his blood pressure had dropped to a dangerously low 60/34; he blacked out and landed in the emergency room. Six units of blood, one surgical procedure and a weeklong hospital stay remedied the bleeding ulcer that threatened to shorten the 47-year-old clergyman’s life.

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see caption/Don McLaughlin

Don McLaughlin enjoys some quiet time on the coast of Hawaii.

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“It was just one of those mind-blowing experiences where I had no idea how serious it was,” said McLaughlin, pastor of North Atlanta Church of Christ in Dunwoody. His normal energy level returned in about two months following the transfusions and hospitalization, and he now feels “excellent,” he said.

Every two seconds, because of accidents, heart surgery, organ transplants or illness, someone in America needs a blood transfusion. So, ensuring the state’s blood supply is a matter of life and death for the American Red Cross Southern Region. Each year, metro Atlanta is responsible for nearly half of all blood (138,365 of 291,582 total units) collected throughout the region, which covers most of Georgia and parts of South Carolina and north Florida.

The summer months — with students out of school and families vacationing — are particularly difficult for the Red Cross. A poor economy and fewer people giving the gift of life have severely siphoned the state’s blood supply.

Since summer began, an average of 925 units (or pints) of blood have been collected daily, well shy of the 1,200 units needed on average each day to supply more than 130 hospitals and health-care facilities. Levels of O-positive blood, the most in demand, have remained near or below a half-day’s supply for most of the summer. Blood collections dwindled to only 700 units in August and hit a critical low on Aug. 12, with less than a three-hour supply of O-positive on hand.

“Hospitals are telling us it’s been the worst they’ve ever seen,” said Krista Hillyer, chief medical director of southeast division of the Red Cross. Without enough blood, elective surgeries are canceled, doctors must choose which patients to give blood and patients with chronic diseases may have to forgo routine transfusions.

“It gets kind of scary,” she said.

To offset the shortage, the Red Cross now imports about 1,125 units each week. Such dependence leaves the state at the mercy of other regions to meet its needs, Hillyer said. “That is frightening,” she said.

Trauma and accident victims can require up to 100 units, and a liver transplant can use 40 or more. Blood needs for scheduled procedures such as cancer treatments or surgeries can be anticipated, but transplant and trauma cases can occur at any moment, and require an unknown number of units.

While it’s not allowed to pay for donations, the Red Cross has increased incentives to attract donors, such as drawings for gas cards, raffles and T-shirts. It also partners with businesses, student organizations and churches to host blood drives and spread the word.

“There’s no one solution,” said Hillyer. “What we’re relying on is people’s good will and their sense of wanting to help their fellow man, realizing that they never know when it may be them who needs blood.”

Just ask McLaughlin.

A blood donor since college, the Dunwoody resident never imagined himself on the receiving end of the needle. Now, he stresses the urgency and importance of giving blood to everyone he can.

“You cannot wait to fill the need until someone needs it,” said McLaughlin, 47. “That may be too late.”

This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of his transfusion, and the first time he can donate again. (Transfusion recipients cannot donate for a year following their procedure).

“I have been waiting all year to tell someone thank you,” McLaughlin said of the Sept. 7 life-saving experience. “I live because you give.”