Across the country, blood banks and health care organizations are experiencing an extreme decline in blood donations — deeming it the worst blood shortage in over a decade, according to the American Red Cross. Now there’s an urgent plea for blood donors to overcome the nationwide shortage.

Blood donations have been on a steady decline since the beginning of the pandemic due to blood drive cancellations, a spike in COVID-19 cases, and low donor and volunteer turnouts. Because blood cannot be created in a laboratory and there are no substitutes, patients like those at Moffitt Cancer Center depend solely on donations.

Moffitt provides blood transfusions daily because cancer patients are in constant need due to loss of blood during surgery, low blood counts from the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, and cancers in the blood and bone marrow.

But as the cancer center continues to see an insufficient supply of blood on the shelves, patients are now facing delays in blood transfusions or are receiving a less preferred blood type.

“Here at Moffitt our shelves are usually full of units tightly lined up in three rows per shelf. Now they are either partially filled or completely empty,” said Dr. Kaaron Benson, medical director of the blood bank at Moffitt.

Benson says blood group O and Rh-negative units are running at record low levels, but all blood types are needed.

As blood supplies have reached dangerously low levels, blood banks such as LifeSouth Community Blood Centers are hosting extra blood drives on Moffitt’s campus in hopes of encouraging more people to give.

“Our blood suppliers LifeSouth Community Blood Centers and SunCoast Blood Centers are trying to keep up, but our orders are only partially filled daily. We need donors to show up,” said Benson.

Mobile blood drives are held at Moffitt’s Magnolia campus every second Wednesday of the month from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and every fourth Wednesday of the month from noon to 7 p.m. They are also hosted at Moffitt’s Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Outpatient Center at the McKinley campus every three months from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Blood drives are held every other month at Moffitt’s offsite locations: Moffitt Business Center from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. and Moffitt at International Plaza from 2 – 5 p.m.

Donating blood is a simple procedure that can usually be done in about 45 minutes, and one donor can help up to three patients. If you have received the COVID-19 or flu vaccination or had the COVID-19 infection, you are still eligible to give blood.

To donate blood in your local community, visit www.lifesouth.org or www.scbb.org.