Peek inside a bank full of priceless gifts

Right now, he’s concerned that the holidays and the rise of multiple respiratory viruses at once will make the blood supply unstable in early 2023.

In early 2022, when the omicron surge of COVID-19 cases was in full swing, the American Red Cross declared its first-ever Blood Emergency. The Blood Bank’s shelves were startingly bare.

While the supply has leveled out since then, a special task force from across Michigan Medicine has been working on a plan for how to triage blood use during shortages, and make the most of the supply at all times.

The recent move by the United States Food and Drug Administration to expand the pool of people who can donate blood will also help, Davenport notes.

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For instance, people who have lived or traveled extensively in the United Kingdom and France are no longer barred from giving, and those who have lived in or traveled to parts of the world where malaria is common now have a much shorter waiting period before they can give blood. So do people who have received tattoos or piercings in recent months.

There have also been some changes to past restrictions on people who engage in certain sexual practices, such as men who have had sex with men in the past. Davenport notes that the FDA has said it will consider even more changes to these rules, based on results of a clinical study.

Every expansion of donation eligibility, and every blood drive hosted by a local business, church, school, club or local government, helps keep supplies steady.

And that’s critical. At any given time, the Blood Bank’s temperature-controlled “vaults” hold nearly 200 units of red blood cells and 50 units of blood platelets, plus other blood products. Those supplies are perishable, with only days or weeks of viable use.

The bank team communicates daily with regional blood suppliers to make sure there’s enough on hand for both scheduled care like C-section births and chemotherapy infusions, and for unpredictable demands such as trauma care, organ transplant operations and starting critically ill patients on the life-support system known as ECMO. Some operations can use a dozen units of blood products or more.

SEE ALSO: What it’s really like to give blood

Doctors from across the state and nation also send patients to Michigan Medicine who can’t receive just any blood in the well-known A, B or O groups.

A specially equipped room within the bank allows highly trained team members to determine exactly which kind of blood product is compatible with such patients’ rare types, to avoid dangerous reactions when they receive a transfusion. The new Blood Bank has giant rapid-typing machines that automate the process of cataloging the subtypes of blood in the daily deliveries.

Oh, and the Blood Bank’s pneumatic tubes?

They stretch a bit farther than the ones at a regular bank’s drive-though lanes.

These tubes can send units of blood within the walls of University Hospital, and into the nearby C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Frankel Cardiovascular Center and Rogel Cancer Center buildings, at the press of a button.

And each time one of those cylindrical containers comes to a halt on a hospital floor or near an operating room, that means a life might be saved.

But it also means the bank needs a new deposit – from yet another generous donor.

Find out how you can give blood to help patients wherever you live.

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