Rural areas in Mississippi face severe shortage in blood supply

January 21, 2020

Joey Barnes,

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Mississippi Blood Services is experiencing a severe shortage of its blood supply.

They’re asking people in the area to help if you can.

It’s never too late to consider donating blood to your local community blood bank.

According to The American Red Cross, every two seconds a person in the U.S. needs blood.

While more populated areas aren’t generally impacted by the growing demand for blood, small towns are experiencing a shortage.

“They don’t hesitate to keep a supply when it comes to patient care,” said blood bank supervisor Sandi Kilburn.

Kilburn works at Baptist Golden Triangle.

She said during the winter more and more medical centers are facing the challenge of finding blood donors.

“While the crisis is waning we still need donations because the rural areas will be more impacted with problems with weather, challenges of accidents, or whatever because of where they are situated,” said Kilburn.

Often times, small-town medical centers run extremely low in all blood types.

Kilburn said the biggest reason for the low supply can be due to traveling.

“The biggest impact they face is the distance it takes to get blood to them,” said Kilburn “If they got their full stock and got their inventory up to date then it’s not such a problem. They get what they need so we really need to keep up donations whether if it’s a crisis or not. They will call and ask us why do you need so much and we’ll tell them we have an emergency or surgeries so we’re going to need this blood.”

Although Baptist Golden Triangle isn’t experiencing a shortage at their facility, they are still relying on the public’s help.

“If you’re a regular donor, just please don’t hesitate to keep your appointments going, call and try to be able to donate on your regular every eight weeks schedule,” said Kilburn.

Baptist Memorial Hospital is hosting a blood donation drive on January 31.

It will be in the Outpatient Conference Center from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.