Hospitals in the Dayton region are joining the Community Blood Center’s ‘call to action’ to ask the public to help address the region’s blood supply shortage – the most severe shortage since the early days of COVID-19.

Blood products are vital to a broad group of patients, among them trauma patients, newborns who require ICU care, patients undergoing surgery and oncology care and therapies. For many of these patients, blood and blood products are not only an important aspect of treatment, but a vital lifeline.

The need for blood products has been significant and ongoing, even during a pandemic. Across the country, the supply of blood products has been strained by the pandemic, both locally and nationally, as individual donors and organizational blood drives have decreased.

Trauma centers across the region, such as Miami Valley Hospital which serves as the region’s Level I adult trauma center and handles the highest-acuity cases, take care of patients whose needs sometimes involve medical interventions that require significant utilization of blood products (red cells/plasma/platelets).

Hospitals have worked to be good stewards of this resource, implementing several measures in recent years to conserve blood products.

As people return to more activities, work and other in-person engagements, the need for blood products is increasing, especially in preparation for the extended July 4th holiday weekend.

Individuals are encouraged to make an appointment at www.DonorTime.com or call (937) 461-3220 to donate. Eligibility to donate can be viewed at: http://givingblood.org/donate-blood. It is important to note that a previous COVID-19 infection or vaccination for COVID-19 does not disqualify someone from donating blood.