Tennessee is facing a blood shortage, as hurricanes and wildfires trigger nationwide drop in donations

Tennessee blood suppliers are nearly out of the type hospitals need for emergency room patients.

“Right now, the supply of type O blood products is so low that hospital distributions have been reduced below what hospitals need,” said Jerrica Williams, the regional communications director for Red Cross of Tennessee. “Type O is the universal blood type, so it is critical that hospitals have both type O-positive and O-negative ready and available for emergency situations.”

Meanwhile, Blood Assurance had only 10 units of O-negative blood on the shelf Tuesday, according to a press release. There’s about a pint of blood in a unit. A typical car accident victim needs about 50 units. Burn victims typically need 20.

O-negative blood is especially important in emergency care. It’s the universal blood type, meaning everyone’s body will accept it. That’s critical in situations where the patient’s blood type is unknown.

Using the wrong type of blood can be lethal. It can trigger an immune response that makes the blood clump, causing shock and organ damage.

Blood Assurance provides blood to several Nashville hospitals, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center and multiple TriStar facilities. Both of those systems contain a Level 1 trauma center, which treats the most severe emergency cases for the surrounding area.

Recent heatwaves and hurricanes have created a national blood shortage — including here in Tennessee.

The blood supply depends on donors. So when turnout for blood drives and clinics drops, supply does too. It’s not unusual for weather to have an impact on blood donations, but the situation now is more dire.

Throughout July, heatwaves made it dangerous for people to get out, said Williams with Red Cross.

“At one point, about 50% of Americans were under heat alerts,” she said. “So because of this, a lot of our blood drives were impacted. Whether they were delayed in the time that they started, whether they closed early or whether they were canceled altogether.”

The Red Cross reports its blood supply for the country dropped by 25% in July, with no decrease in demand. Multiple blood suppliers have raised alarm over the past week or so, according to the American Hospital Association.

Heat waves weren’t the only weather-related interruptions to blood donations. Wildfires in California have triggered air quality advisories across the West. Hurricane Debby caused torrential rains, flooding and power outages along the East Coast starting in Florida on Aug. 5.

Weather can drive up demand, as well. Several blood distributors, including Blood Assurance in Nashville, are part of collaborations that pool their supplies during disasters and send blood to storm-affected areas.

Even without these extenuating circumstances, blood tends to be a little harder to come by in the summer months.

On its website, Blood Assurance says that demand for blood increases in the summer — especially when people are celebrating the Fourth of July. But every year, donations drop off. People tend to be busy with travel and other family responsibilities. But one major factor is the summer break from school.

“With high schools out for the summer, they can’t host blood drives, and donations typically drop,” it says.