PITTSBURGH (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - Healthcare officials have seen a consistent decline in the number of local blood donors and believe it could become a community health crisis.
Vitalant (formerly Central Blood Bank) is launching an initiative to recruit and retain more blood donors in the region through raising awareness of the shortage and establishing blood donation programs at local businesses and organizations. A grant from UPMC Health System and The Highmark Foundation facilitated by the Blood Science Foundation helped to launch the program.
Vitalant President Charles Wilcox says Baby Boomers were the most common blood donors for four decades, but they've been donating at a slower rate in the past ten years. Other generations have not picked up the slack, resulting in donations in the region dropping by more than half.
"It's becoming a real problem," said Wilcox. "The decline has significant impact on area hospitals by potentially forcing them to postpone needed elective surgeries or impact needed treatment."
According to a press release, the hospitals Vitalant supports required nearly 160,000 pints of blood in 2017, but only received 74,000.
Dr. Darrell Triulzi, Professor of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh and Director of the Division of Transfusion Medicine, says the shortage results in difficult decisions in terms of which patients may have their transfusions delayed.
"I've been here 27 years, and I've never seen the blood supply as low as it's been as what we're seeing now," he said.
Triulzi added that because of the booming healthcare industry in Pittsburgh, blood is in higher demand in the region.
Vitalant works closely with Cecil Watkins, who has donated blood and platelets hundreds of times since the 1980's.
"I just always at a sense that I wanted to make things better," he said. "I, somehow, wanted to improve the community, the world that I lived in, and giving blood was one way to do that."
For more information on Vitalant, their initiative and ways to donate blood, visit their website.