Editor’s Note: The following excerpt of an interview with Theresa J. Clark, MBA, MT (ASCP), Market Director of Laboratory Services, Trinity Health System, was conducted by Steve Novotney of Lede News at the conclusion of National Blood Donors Month. In it, Theresa discusses the urgent need for blood donations year-round. You can read the entire article by clicking here.

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The month of January was National Blood Donor Month and one official of Trinity Health System in Steubenville said the pace of contributions was very strong.

The need, however, remains at crisis levels because Americans lost the ability to donate during the pandemic and because most do not realize the need until personal impact.

“January was National Blood Donor Month, and we encouraged local residents to donate blood because of the need that is very real,” explained Theresa Clark from Trinity Health Systems. “When you donate blood locally, it really helps the community where you reside because the donation stays right there in your area. There are times when we’re asked to donate to other areas when a tragedy takes place, but most of it stays right here.

“Here at Trinity we used about 2,000 units of blood during 2022, and that directly helped about 900 of our local patients,” she explained. “The Red Cross has been experiencing shortages since before Covid, and we know that donations fell off a lot while we all were in pandemic mode. It wasn’t good for the overall blood supply.”

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Click here to read the entire interview. 

To view WTRF’s interview with Theresa Clark, please click here.