![]() ![]() “Maybe it’s just because it gets them out of class,” he joked. According to Squires, 20% of our nation’s supply of blood comes from high schools and colleges. Somewhat surprisingly, one of the biggest donor pools is young people. Couple that with an unprecedented rise in the number of trauma cases and emergency room visits – the American Red Cross said demand for blood is up 10% compared with this same period in 2019 – and you’ve got the perfect storm. But now that things are calming down from a COVID perspective, those patients are coming back. Because of the pandemic, people who needed less serious or elective procedures put them off. “Basically, what we’re seeing is a 5% to 15% increase in blood use across the country,” he said. Squires explained that MUSC has partnerships with both the American Red Cross and The Blood Connection, and if not for both, the hospital would be in much worse shape. The only way to fix it is for people get out and donate,” he said. “My worry is that after the Fourth of July, it’s going to be even worse. Jerry Squires, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of Transfusion Services at MUSC Simply donating blood is how we’re going to fix this." He also knows that over holidays, donations tend to go down, and that’s got him a little nervous. ![]() “There are always shortages, but this is different,” he said. Jerry Squires, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of Transfusion Services at MUSC – a man who has over 30 years working in blood banking – said he’s never seen our country in a worse predicament, donation-wise. “Our teams are working around the clock to meet the extraordinary blood needs of hospitals and patients – distributing about 75,000 more blood products than expected over the past three months to meet demand – but we can’t do it without donors. “The Red Cross is currently experiencing a severe blood shortage,” said Chris Hrouda, president of Red Cross Biomedical Services, in a statement. ![]() Red cross weight chart how to#While most Americans will be focused on fireworks and grilling out this weekend, blood banks across the country will be trying to figure out how to increase supply. ![]()
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