BLOOD NEEDED, ESPECIALLY DURING HOLIDAYS

GIVING BLOOD SAVES LIVES

Hospitals struggle to maintain adequate blood supplies at times when many people are too busy to give.

It's the day before Thanksgiving. The leaves have fallen, the skies are filled with clouds. Your dad is rushing home from work, your mom is getting the turkey ready for tomorrow.

All of a sudden, you hear the screech of tires, then a horrible crunch. Two cars have just slammed into each other at the corner. One driver is seriously injured and bleeding uncontrollably. The ambulances rush to help. Back at the hospital, the doctors panic because they do not have enough blood to save the man's life.

Even though this situation is made up, it could happen anywhere, at any time.

The holidays are busy times of the year. Everyone is either running away on vacation or busy shopping at the malls.

So no one really has any time to give blood. The ironic thing is, the holidays are also times for drinking and driving and car accidents. Holidays are the times hospitals most need blood.

According to the Indiana State Police, car accidents increase around the holidays, and people involved in alcohol-related crashes are more likely to be injured.

In 1991, about 35 percent of the total 194,956 crashes in Indiana resulted in injury, according to state police statistics. But of the 11,054 alcohol-related crashes, about 68 percent resulted in injury.

Children's Express talked with the blood bank director at Methodist Hospital, Dr. Niles Rosen, to see how the blood supply affects the hospital.

It's important that Methodist has a lot of blood on its shelves because of the accident and transplant patients who are treated there, he said.

"We deal with a lot of the traumas _ the automobile accidents, industrial accidents," Rosen said. "We have a lot of transplantation going on _ people who have bad livers, bad hearts, bad lungs, get livers, hearts and lungs from those people who died."

Surgeries and transfusions

Some patients come into the blood bank for transfusions. "These are usually patients who have some sort of cancer or a leukemia, and they have low blood counts because of the therapy that they are on or because of the disease.

"We have never had a time (at Methodist) when we have had to cancel an operative procedure (because of inadequate blood supplies.) But we have come close to having to cancel.

"We had a situation not too long ago when there was a blood shortage in town, where we were doing a liver transplant, and unexpectedly that liver transplant required huge amounts of blood. And we thought we were going to run out. . . . The Central Indiana Regional Blood Center says to us, `We have no more blood.' Fortunately, two other hospitals were able to ship us blood," said Rosen.

The holidays are a time for giving. Some people give presents, some people give their time, but one of the most thoughtful gifts is blood.

There are approximately 250 million people in the United States. Only about 5 percent of those people donate blood, according to the Central Indiana Regional Blood Center pamphlet.

About 14 million units of blood are required annually for the 4 million people in the United States who need blood transfusions, according to the center.

Age limit lowered

The age limit for donating blood used to be 18, but the American Blood Association lowered it to 17 because it found that high school students are enthusiastic donors.

"They have a very positive attitude toward things," Rosen said. "A lot of them (high school students) are more likely to donate blood than someone who is in their 60s."

Age really isn't the important factor for donating blood. Size is more important. You must weigh at least 110 pounds. A person weighing under 110 pounds cannot give a pint of blood because a pint is more than 12 percent of the volume of blood in that person's body.

According to Rosen, even though kids under 17 are unable to donate, they can still help. They can inform their parents about the need for blood, or they can encourage them to start a blood drive in their workplace.

There are many tests that are done on the blood to make sure that it is safe.

"It's kind of amazing that, with all these tests, you would think that no one's blood would pass. But in fact, only about 5 percent of tested blood fails one or more of the tests," Rosen said.

AIDS risk very small

As far as getting AIDS from a blood transfusion, it's still possible, but the risk is very small. "You're more likely to get hit by a car when crossing the street going to your mom or dad's car after you're done here, than you are to get AIDS from a blood transfusion," he explained.

You cannot get AIDS from donating blood, because the needle used in the donation process is thrown away.

Why should people consider donating blood?

Rosen said, "The next person who requires that blood transfusion who comes in because of a motor vehicle accident could be your mother, could be your father or your brother or your sister. And the only reason we can save lives is because the blood is available on our shelves (for immediate use.)

"You can't donate blood after the accident happens. It has to be there."