A nationwide blood shortage is requiring more people than ever to flock to blood drives to keep up with the demand. In the Flathead Valley, many are turning out to donate and Red Cross staff are asking people to keep up that dedication as the shortage slugs on in the weeks ahead.

Matt Ochsner is the Red Cross’ Regional Communications Director for Idaho and Montana. He said a blood shortage means there is more blood going to hospitals and clinics than donations coming in. This is the worst blood shortage the Red Cross has had in more than a decade, he said.

According to Ochsner, January is always a difficult time of year for people to donate blood— winter weather causes blood drives to be canceled, and for donors to not be able to make it to appointments. A release from the Red Cross notes that hundreds of blood drives have been canceled across the country due to winter storms in January, forcing about 6,500 blood and platelet donations to go uncollected.

Wintertime is also cold and flu season, which restricts staff and also causes donors to have to cancel appointments.

Then, there’s Covid-19 and the spread of the omicron variant.

“You combine all of that … and it’s been creating a number of challenges for us,” Oschner said.

Much like how Covid requires hospitals to make hard calls about full units and ventilators, the blood shortage also puts doctors in difficult situations. A healthy national blood supply ensures that accident victims rushed to the emergency room, those being treated for cancer and others who count on blood product transfusions can receive life saving care without delay.

The Red Cross supplies blood to many hospitals across Montana and the U.S. — providing 40% of the nation’s blood and blood components every year.

“It’s putting hospitals and doctors into difficult situations, and forcing them to make tough decisions, and that’s not a situation anyone wants to be in right now,” Ochsner said.

Officials at Logan Health in Kalispell said the shortage isn’t currently being felt locally because the hospital system gets its blood supply from Vitalant. The nonprofit blood services provider is not yet strained in this part of the state, but is still affected by the nationwide shortage.

People can set-up an appointment online to donate to Vitalant at www.donors.vitalant.org.

AT A recent blood drive in Kalispell, community members shared why they chose to donate blood. Rebecca Hamilton said she has a rare blood type and large veins — less than 3% of the population has her blood type.

“It’s easy for me to do, and my blood is also the universal plasma donor, so my blood is probably not used very much, but spun off for plasma. So, it’s easy for me to do,” she said.

Charlie Durr said he is also a habitual donor. He said he’s had a blood issue in the past that involves having high levels of iron that can be balanced out with regular blood donations.

“The last blood draw I had, the blood went up to New Hampshire, clear up on the northeast side of the country— two little 12-year-old girls. I have a type of blood that’s A positive, and there’s only 20% of A positive people that can give blood to youths, and mine is one of them, to prenatal and stuff like that— that’s why I give blood,” he said.

Kevin Proctor said he’s been donating blood for over 25 years, so it’s become something he’s settled into like a routine.

“I think it’s a good thing, cause I’m able to do it and I’m able to help out. You know what they say about a pint of blood, in terms of what it can do for people who need blood at the hospitals, so I feel like it’s always been something I can do and it doesn’t take a lot of time and I feel good about it,” he said.

Head Phlebotomist Heather Zander said she’s seen a rise in donors in the valley. She said their donors are always loyal, but there has been an even bigger surge of first-time donors in recent weeks.

“There’s not much more you can do to save three lives in an hour. The impact is so huge and it’s so needed. Just give it a try, people sometimes work it up in their head that it’s going to be much worse or take a long time, but we’re pretty fast and efficient, it’s always worth it,” Zander said.

The Red Cross is currently offering incentives for donors, including receiving a $10 Amazon gift card via email for those who donate blood during the month of February. In January, anyone who donated was entered to win tickets to the Super Bowl and also received a free dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

Anyone interested in scheduling an appointment to donate blood with the Red Cross can visit their website https://www.redcrossblood.org/give.html/find-drive to look-up the nearest drive. There are multiple Red Cross drives in Kalispell throughout the month of February that still have openings, and there are Vitalant drives that have openings in early March at Logan Health.

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-748-4433 or [email protected]