Blood donors urgently needed in Minnesota to weather the holiday lull

The season of giving has arrived, and it’s not great news for Memorial Blood Centers.

Blood donations tend to decrease at this time of year, prompting the St. Paul-based nonprofit to issue an emergency plea so that it can keep Minnesota hospitals fully stocked with blood products for surgeries and emergencies. Memorial Blood Centers (MBC) even offered holiday-themed T-shirts for donors who step up by Monday.

“Every year, we brace for a dip in donations around the holidays, but the need for blood doesn’t slow down,” said Kathy Geist, MBC’s vice president.

MBC reported a 20% decline in blood donations during the Thanksgiving week last year, when people were less likely to donate because of holiday travels and family gatherings, and employers were less likely to host collection events.

The agency, along with the American Red Cross, supplies many of Minnesota’s hospitals and clinics, which infuse blood products in patients who need them because of surgeries, traumatic injuries or a variety of diseases that lower blood levels. Donations include whole units of blood or filtered units that contain just the red blood cells, platelets or plasma that are needed for certain therapies.

M Health Fairview performed more than 40,000 transfusions of donor blood products at its hospitals and clinics during the first nine months of 2024, according to data provided by the Minneapolis-based health system.

The need is unlikely to diminish at the end of the year, especially given holiday travels and the increased risk of accidents, said Kayla Fahey-Ahrndt, the manager of M Health Fairview’s transfusion medicine program. “If anything, it becomes more urgent.”

Donors can make appointments at collection centers or mobile blood drives, including upcoming MBC collection events at Amy’s Cupcake Shoppe in Hopkins on Saturday and Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis on Tuesday.

Red Cross events include those scheduled Monday at Mastel’s Health Foods in St. Paul and Eagan City Hall and Tuesday at Prairie Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie. The Red Cross also is trying to increase donors at this time of year with a giveaway of socks celebrating the 30th anniversary of the TV show Friends.

Mayo Clinic organizes its own collection efforts in southeast Minnesota as well.

Medical guidelines permit donors to give blood every 56 days, and platelets twice per month. Donations of whole blood take 10 or fewer minutes, after check-in and screening, while other donations take longer.

Donors are encouraged to eat iron-rich diets that increase their production of hemoglobin, a key protein in blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. Donors are tested for hemoglobin levels and deferred if their levels are too low.