Blood Donations Fall To Emergency Levels: Where To Donate In Vienna

VIENNA, VA — American Red Cross and Inova Blood Donor Services officials are asking Vienna residents to roll up their sleeves and give blood or platelets to address a nationwide blood shortage exacerbated by severe winter weather that forced hundreds of blood drive cancellations across the country.

Since early January, about 265 blood drives across 27 states were canceled due to weather, leaving more than 8,000 blood and platelet donations to go uncollected and potentially leaving hospitals in short supply of blood, the Red Cross said in an emergency appeal this week.

Blood was already in short supply before millions of people from the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast and the Deep South were placed under some kind of weather alert, including those for blizzards and life-threatening cold air. More bad weather predicted this week could cause even more cancellations.

To help, Vienna residents are encouraged to give blood. Some of the places to do that are:

• American Red Cross Fairfax Blood Donation Center, 8550 Arlington Blvd. Suite 325, Fairfax, VA 22031
• Church of the Holy Comforter Blood Drive, 543 Beulah Rd., Vienna, VA, 22180 (Friday, Feb. 16)
• Inova Woodburn Donor Center, Annandale, VA 3289 Woodburn Road, #010 Annandale, VA 22003
• Inova Schar Heart and Vascular Institute at Inova Fairfax Blood Drives, (Jan. 19, Feb. 9 and Feb. 16)
• Mclean Islamic Center - Bloodmobile, 8800 Jarrett Valley DriveVienna, VA 22182 (Saturday, Feb. 10)
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- Great Falls Blood Drive, 2034 Great Falls St., Falls Church, VA 22043 (Saturday, Feb. 17)
• George Mason University Blood Drive, 4400 Rivanna River Way, The Hub, Fairfax, VA 22032 (Tuesday, Jan. 23)
• McLean Volunteer Fire Department Bloodmobile, 1455 Laughlin Avenue, McLean, VA 22101

All blood types are needed, according to the Red Cross, which says it needs to collect 12,500 units of blood and nearly 3,000 platelet donations a day to ensure 2,500 hospitals and transfusion centers nationwide have adequate supplies.

Inova Blood Donor Services, part of Northern Virginia's Inova Health System, also needs blood donors. There is a particular need for O negative blood.

The emergency blood shortage comes as the nation faces the lowest number of people giving blood in 20 years, the Red Cross says. Teens and young adults, especially, are encouraged to become regular donors.

While the number of blood donations has decreased by 40 percent during that time, of big concern is a decline in the number of young people who are giving blood. A federal National Blood Collection and Utilization Survey showed the number of teens and young adults giving blood has steadily fallen since 2013. Donations from 16- to 18-year-olds dropped by 60 percent from 2019 to 2021, and donations from 19- to 24-year-olds went down by almost a third, according to that report.

Experts said the decline is partly, but not entirely, due to the pandemic. Turning that around is paramount to ensuring the nation has a reliable blood supply.

“If that trend continues, we’re going to be in a very difficult situation,” said Dr. Claudia Cohn, chief medical officer for the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies, told NBC News. “Blood centers often depend upon high schools for their blood drives.”

Cohn said Baby Boomers are the most reliable blood donors and, “unfortunately, younger people are not getting out and replacing those numbers as we need them.”

More information is available by visiting RedCrossBlood.org, downloading the Red Cross Blood Donor App, or calling 1-800-Red Cross.