Indiana's Blood Supply Running Low, Despite Spike In Donations Nationwide

BLOOMINGTON -- Healthcare officials say despite that spike in donations, Indiana’s blood supply is about 30 percent lower than it was last year.

Summer is typically the worst time of the year for blood donations, says Director of Marketing at Indiana Blood Center Andrea Fagan. But this year the supply is especially low, and Fagan says it echoes a national problem.

“The FDA just recently changed its eligibility guidelines around hemoglobin levels for men, and that has had an impact on our donor base,” Fagan says. “The ongoing Zika virus deferrals, as people travel, and they’re not going to not visit these Zika areas, that has an impact.”

Traveling to one of those areas makes you ineligible to donate blood for 42 days.
Fagan says Indiana has an especially low supply of negative blood types, particularly O-negative blood. She says efforts will be made to find new donors, but that as a non-profit it can be difficult to secure resources for large scale campaigns.