The Houchin Community Blood Bank supplies 11 area hospitals with blood, fulfilling an ongoing demand that requires a steady stream of donations. But the coronavirus pandemic has reduced supplies to crisis level, and not for reasons some might think.
Kern County is in the midst of a serious health crisis related to the Covid-19 virus — but not directly.
Houchin has seen a serious decrease in donations because its mobile units can’t get blood from area campuses.
CSUB and Bakersfield College have, for the time being, largely transitioned to online classes, reducing campus activity to a minimum.
Local high schools have also suspended much campus activity, including visits from blood mobiles.
Collectively, they are major contributors to the blood bank.
Houchin must maintain 100 to 150 units of blood in inventory and the blood bank is down to an average of 40. And that constitutes a crisis.
“People come out for terrorist events, for shootings, for other tragedies, and this event looks no different than that,” Houchin’s Tracy Hunter said. “We just know people are going to die if we don’t have blood on the shelves.
“They should be coming out for this even more so, because we have patients in the hospitals waiting for this blood.”
Walk-in blood donors, faithful as they may be, are not making up the difference. That much was clear based on Friday morning’s empty donation stations.
Phil Switzer, who was donating platelets on Friday, had some sound advice.
“People get in accidents, or whatever happens. Life keeps moving,” he said. “So we’ve got to keep giving blood and platelets.”
Terry Burlingame was the only other donor in sight Friday morning when 17 News visited Houchin’s Bolthouse Drive blood collection center, one of the nonprofit’s two locations.
“Come on in,” she said. “Give blood. It’s easy. Come on in.”
Houchin Blood Bank COO Patrick Clary sent a letter out to area hospitals on Friday warning them they may have to triage patients because of the serious shortage of blood.
“Future supplies of blood and blood products may not be readily available as inventory levels decrease,” he wrote. “… We may be forced to allocate resources to hospitals based on the need and current inventory levels.”
