Blood donations still needed after Aurora Bridge crash

After the Aurora Bridge crash on Thursday, hundreds of volunteers quickly fulfilled urgent needs from Bloodworks Northwest, one of the biggest blood centers in the region.

CEO Jim AuBuchon said they had enough blood on hand for about fifteen victims who needed transfusions, but the extra donations resupplied inventory.

But fifteen seems like a small number. Why did that require an urgent response from the community?

AuBuchon explained that the type of blood that trauma victims need is the type that can only be kept around for four to five days.

But that begs another question. Given that a major earthquake is due to hit the Northwest any day now, what would we do in the event of a major disaster? What if 100 trauma victims needed blood transfusions?

There’s no question that local blood centers wouldn’t have enough blood on hand, but AuBuchon said that’s alright because they’re part of a national network.

“In that case, we could turn to the disaster task force coordinated by the American Association of Blood Banks and reach out to other blood centers across the country,” he said.

These coordinated efforts are routinely utilized after major disasters, like Hurricane Sandy and the 9/11 terror attacks. But transportation, AuBuchon said, would undoubtedly be an issue and that’s something else to consider.

He said the blood centers are always trying to gear up for something like “the big one.”

“Emergency preparedness and disaster response is something we think about a lot, we have multiple plans for, and we drill on, to make sure that we are ready,” AuBuchon said.

Bloodworks Northwest is asking the public to continue donating, but not necessarily immediately. They hope volunteers will schedule a blood donation over the next two weeks. That way, they can be sure their supply is fully stocked.