Capt. Shelby Aleksick, a nurse with thirtieth Medical Brigade, donates blood at Rhine Ordnance Barracks, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Jan. 12, 2022. (Katelyn Myers/Army)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — A ramped up operations tempo in Europe amid the conflict in Ukraine has meant that fewer service members are lining as much as donate blood, exacerbating a preexisting scarcity of U.S. stockpiles.
Short-term responsibility assignments and coaching obligations have pressured extra service members to overlook deliberate donations, officers with the Armed Companies Blood Program-Europe mentioned Friday.
“We’ve undoubtedly seen that present occasions on this planet have been maintaining some people from maintaining their appointments to donate blood,” mentioned Stacy Sanning, a program spokeswoman.
Slots are nonetheless accessible for a blood drive scheduled subsequent week on the Army’s set up in Baumholder, Germany, Sanning mentioned Friday. Often, appointments could be full or almost full this near the occasion, she mentioned.
Tuesday’s blood drive on the Corridor of Champions Gymnasium on Baumholder is nearly full, she mentioned, however for Wednesday’s occasion, solely 33 of 68 appointments had been taken as of Friday afternoon.
The following blood drive after Baumholder is on April 25 and April 26 at Ramstein Air Base, which has slots accessible.
Marine Corps Cpl. Andrew S. Wade donates blood at Naval Assist Exercise Hampton Roads, Va., March 30, 2022. The Armed Service Blood Program collects donations to supply blood to service members, veterans and their households. (Jack Chen/U.S. Marine Corps)
This system goals to gather at the least 400 models of blood monthly from a median of 1 to 3 weekly blood drives in Europe. Each donor provides one unit.
After a drop firstly of the pandemic, this system largely has been hitting that aim, with assist from common donors, models that signal as much as sponsor blood drives and by scheduling extra drives when wanted, Sanning mentioned.
This system switched from walk-in to an appointment-only format in the course of the pandemic. Volunteers could stroll in and donate if there are open appointments on the day of a drive.
A civilian blood scarcity within the U.S., brought on by blood drive cancellations and surging hospital demand in the course of the pandemic, underscores the necessity for blood in Europe, officers mentioned.
Blood collected stateside augments the provision for the U.S. navy group in Europe and repair members deployed to Africa.
“Proper now, there may be an pressing want for blood in the US and that features the Division of Protection’s total provide,” mentioned Lt. Col. Veronica Ortiz, director of joint blood operations at Landstuhl Regional Medical Heart.
Blood has a shelf lifetime of 42 days when not frozen and volunteers could donate solely each 56 days.
The Armed Companies Blood Program has greater than 20 donor facilities, together with one in Europe at Landstuhl and others within the continental United States, Guam and Japan.
Donations keep throughout the navy. They’re supplied to service members, veterans and households, in addition to for humanitarian and navy operations worldwide.
Subsequent month, blood drives are scheduled at Vogelweh, Rhine Ordnance Barracks, Wiesbaden and Ramstein in Germany.
As soon as a month, the Landstuhl-based staff collects blood at bases elsewhere in Europe. Blood drives have been held at U.S. Army Garrison Benelux-Brunssum within the Netherlands final month and at Aviano Air Base in Italy in early April.
To enroll to donate, go to https://www.militarydonor.com or e mail usarmy.donateblood-europe@mail.mil.
The donation course of often takes 45 minutes to an hour. Sanning recommends donors eat meal and hydrate beforehand. Salty meals will help the physique retain fluids and water can plump up the veins, she mentioned.
Twitter: @stripesktown
