Blood donors needed to ease national shortage
Winter supply dip impacts blood available for surgeries, organ transplant and more
IN THE NEWS: Flu season and cold weather across much of the nation this winter season has led to shortages in the nation’s blood supply, making the need for donations critical. Donor blood is typically used in surgeries and organ transplants, along with certain types of traumatic injuries.
Dr. Minh-Ha Tran, the medical director of transfusion medicine at UCI Health spoke with Spectrum News 1 about how winter storms can impact blood drives.
“We’ve had several significant storms moving across the Midwest and the Northeast and some of the areas of the South as well. Those storms make it very difficult to get people out to donate, and they lead to blood drive cancellations.”
He also touched on flu season’s impact on blood donations.
“There’s also been a significant flu season this last year and has also accounted for people not being able to donate. Hopefully, we’re at the tail end of the flu season.”
UC Irvine PhD student Noelle Viger donates platelets up to twice a month at the UC Irvine Blood Donor Center. Her older sibling was diagnosed with leukemia in 2021 and needed 38 blood transfusions during treatment. Viger was able to donate her bone marrow to her sibling, who is now in remission.
It’s because of her personal experience that Viger finds that it is important to donate platelets as often as she can.
“It is so important. And I saw how sick my sibling was and how much better they felt after receiving platelets. A donation can literally save someone’s life.”
Tran is a professor of pathology and internal medicine at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. He is a fellow of the American Society of Clinical Pathology. He has repeatedly been named a Physician of Excellence by the Orange County Medical Association.
He specializes in blood banking and transfusion medicine and is the author or co-author of several studies published in prominent journals.
Watch the report
About UCI Health
UCI Health, one of California’s largest academic health systems, is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. The 1,461-bed system comprises its main campus UCI Health — Orange, its flagship hospital, the UCI Health — Irvine acute care hospital and medical campus, four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and a network of ambulatory care centers across the region. UCI Health — Orange provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to the only Orange County-based National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves 5.6 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).