New York Blood Center down to three- or four-day supply of donations

Julia Van Nostrand, a junior at LIU Post, did not hesitate when the New York Blood Center came to campus this week in an effort to boost donations.

"For me, if I could do the simplest thing to help anybody, I would," said the 20-year-old from Hauppauge, who has donated blood several times in the past. "By donating, you can save up to three lives — so why wouldn’t I?"

The New York Blood Center, which has six locations on Long Island, is counting on conscientious young people like Van Nostrand to help rebuild a blood donation program that has taken a blow during the COVID-19 pandemic. The blood drive was the second at LIU Post in two months after a pandemic-imposed hiatus of two years.

The nonprofit said it needs about 32,000 pints of blood a month to meet demand and have a safe reserve. Before the pandemic, it received about 30,000 pints of donated blood each month on average. And now donations are just about 80% to 90% of what they were before the pandemic.

The lack of donations goes beyond Long Island and New York State, and has become a national concern for nonprofits that provide blood to hospitals and other medical facilities.

The Red Cross said the shortage has forced it to limit blood product distribution to hospitals and that as much as one-quarter of hospital blood needs are not being met. It supplies about 40% of the nation's blood, and, in recent weeks, has had less than a one-day supply of critical blood types.

The New York Blood Center, which serves Long Island, New York City and the Hudson Valley, has about a three- or four-day supply of blood.

"You basically get the donations and they're going out the door," said Andrea Cefarelli, senior executive director at the New York Blood Center. "So we don't need just a couple weeks of good blood donations. We need a couple months to build our inventory to more like a five- to seven-day."

She said there are "thousands of organizations that used to host blood drives, pre-pandemic, that have never come back to hosting them."

Colleges, high schools, businesses and houses of worship were either shuttered or had to limit the number of people due to COVID-19 restrictions. Many office buildings remain virtually empty as workers continue to work remotely.

The loss of high school blood drives, a source of about 50,000 pints of blood every year, with about half coming from Long Island, was especially difficult, Cefarelli said.

"And on Long Island, in particular, there were schools that had hosted blood drives," she said. "It was a part of their junior, senior class effort for the last 50 years."

Those students often were introduced to donating during high school and continued doing so through the years.

Cefarelli said the need for blood also has increased as people return to get medical procedures they may have put off during the pandemic.

"The need for blood is about 10% to 15% higher," said Cefarelli, who said that before the pandemic they would collect between 28,000 and 30,000 pints of donated blood a month. "We just haven’t rebounded to that level."

Health care systems on Long Island said that while they are all feeling the blood shortage, patient care has not been impacted, because they are able to move around supply to meet demand.

"We're able to shuttle blood from one building to another, or to reallocate our blood deliveries as each hospital's blood bank runs low," said Dr. Peter Silver, chief quality officer and associate chief medical officer at Northwell Health, which has 11 hospitals on Long Island. "And we’re still tight. Our employee donations are also down."

Type O blood, both negative and positive, is in particularly short supply across the region, he said.

"O negative is particularly critical because that is what we call the universal donor," he said. "It can be used in any patient, so if a trauma patient comes in who needs blood immediately, we don’t have to wait to do a blood type."

Dr. Jason M. Golbin, executive vice president and chief medical officer at Catholic Health, said the health system has been able to take care of its patients, but "We are reminding people that donation is safe," he said. "It may be you who needs [blood] one day."

In the past, LIU Post hosted four to six drives a year, resulting in about 300 pints of donated blood. So far, NYBC has collected 171 pints of donated blood through its December and February drives on campus. And it hopes to continue the momentum with students like Frank Bernie, 18, and Shab Nasary, 22, who gave blood on Wednesday.

Nasary, of Upper Brookville, said it was her first time donating, but she was inspired after hearing supplies were low.

"I'm a little nervous but that's OK, it's for a good cause," the senior said.

Bernie said he also feels an obligation to donate since he has the coveted type O positive blood.

"A lot of people can use my blood," said Bernie, a sophomore from Brooklyn. "I'd like to give as often as possible."

By Lisa L. Colangelo

lisa.colangelo@newsday.com@lisalcolangelo

Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.