PARKERSBURG — The nation is facing an emergency blood shortage, but local hospitals seem to be making it through the crisis unscathed.

The American Red Cross declared an emergency blood shortage at the beginning of January.

In a release, the Red Cross said it is facing an emergency blood shortage as it experiences the lowest number of people giving blood in 20 years. The number of people donating blood to the American Red Cross has decreased by 40% over the last 20 years, the release said.

The decrease is due to a number of factors including COVID-19’s prompting a shift to remote work making it challenging to meet people with convenient blood drives, eligibility changes to minimum hemoglobin thresholds, and changes in hospital blood transfusion protocols a decade ago, the release said.

The Red Cross issued another release on Monday

“We are not currently impacted strongly by the blood shortage. We are beginning to pay a little bit more attention the last couple of days,” Memorial Health System Associate Vice President of Service Excellence Jennifer Offenberger said about Marietta Memorial Hospital, Selby General Hospital, Sistersville General Hospital and Memorial Health System’s area emergency departments.

Offenberger said Memorial Health Systems works with Central Ohio Trauma System (COTS).

Memorial Health Systems communicates with COTS about supplies, including blood supplies, “to ensure we all have access to the kind of supply we need in order to ensure optimal care for our region,” Offenberger said.

They have spoken to COTS already this week and will do so later this week, according to Offernberger.

COTS is a healthcare coalition for trauma, emergency services, and emergency preparedness and response that is made up of physicians, health care professionals, and other experts, according to their website.

With the storms that are happening across the county, Memorial Health System will want to watch what happens with Red cross blood collections, she said.

Offenberger said if there was ever a blood shortage at Memorial Health System, the first thing they would do is look at transfusion guidelines. If they were in conservation mode, they would look at a patient’s needs and see if the patient could do with less.

Then further down the line they would look at elective surgeries or other things they would need to cancel, she said.

Offenberger emphasized that Memorial Health Systems is not in conservation mode and in the 26 years she has worked for Memorial health Systems she has never seen them have to enact conservation policies.

WVU Medicine Camden Clark is not experiencing any issues with the emergency blood shortage either.

“(The) good news is our supply is not in danger,” WVU Medicine Camden Clark Employee Health Manager Elizabeth Bennett said.

Bennett said that WVU Camden Clark holds quarterly blood drives to help the American Red Cross with their supply.

If there were a blood shortage at Camden Clark Medical Center, they would first look at other WVU Medicine hospitals to have them transfer blood. If other WVU Medicine facilities did not have blood to transfer, then they would look into other suppliers, Bennett said.

Bennett has worked at WVU Medicine for 18 years, and the one time she remembers there being a blood shortage at Camden Clark Medical Center is during the height of COVID in 2021 or 2022.

“There was a critical shortage and I know it was extremely difficult even at a hospital to get blood,” she said.

In the past when there has been a blood shortage Camden Clark Medical Center postponed elective procedures, Bennett said.

American Red Cross of the Ohio River Valley Executive Director Sharon Kesselring said that blood donation events have been canceled due to the winter weather. She expects more drives to be canceled due to staff not being able to make it safely to donation centers or because centers have to close for busted pipes or other reasons associated with the weather, Kesselring said.

The winter weather will continue to impact blood donations and “that means our ability to supply what the hospitals asking” will be impacted, Kesselring said.

Kesselring said the blood shortage is having an impact locally, it just may not be as great here as in another area.

“I am aware of the fact that we haven’t been able to supply absolute numbers for orders for hospitals,” Kesselring said about local hospitals and the shortage.

She said she guesses hospitals have been able to work with what the American Red Cross has been able to give them.

The winter weather will continue to impact blood donations and “that means our ability to supply what the hospitals asking” will be impacted, Kesselring said.

Kesselring hopes to see an increase in blood donations. When the American Red Cross sent out an appeal for people to donate more blood she did see an increase in blood donations the couple of days there was nice weather in the area, she said.

The American Red Cross is partnering with the NFL in January, which is National Blood Donor Month, Kesselring said.

Anyone who donates blood in January will be entered for a chance to win two tickets to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, Kesselring said.

She said people can learn more about this at RedCrossBlood.org/SuperBowl.To learn about blood donation events in your area visit RedCrossBlood.org or download the Blood Donor App.