Blood donations at 15-year low | Health

(KFVS) - Communication Manager, Dan Fox, for the Missouri Illinois blood district says blood collections are at a 15-year low.

According to Fox, collections are down, not donations, because sometimes people donate but they can't actually use the blood because of HIV, Syphilis, etc. He says the last time collections were this low was 1997.

Fox says nationwide, the fiscal year numbers include:

• 2012 - 5,871,195 collections
• 2011 - 6,182,386 collections
• 1997 - 5.6 million collections

He says the 2012 fiscal year ended June 30.

According to Fox, in the Missouri/Illinois area, they need to collect 800 blood pints a day to keep up with the hospital need. He says right now, they're reaching that, but are close to the point of having to cancel surgeries. Fox says the hospital will cancel surgeries if the blood collections get too low.

The extreme heat this summer is a factor, Fox says, because people don't necessarily want to leave their air conditioned home or work to run errands such as donating blood.

For more information, including blood donation sites in your area, you can click here to visit the Red Cross online.

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