LOS ANGELES — There's an urgent need for blood as there is a shortage across the country, according to the American Red Cross.

Doctors at Cedars-Sinai in Brentwood say they're also experiencing the shortage. The cooler collecting blood donations would be full on a good day, but on the day Spectrum News 1 visited, there were just three pints—four, if you count Maria Murga's. 

What You Need To Know

  • There's an urgent need for blood, according to the American Red Cross who says it is seeing a severe blood shortage across the country

  • Doctors at Cedars-Sinai in Brentwood say they're also experiencing the shortage. On a good day, the cooler collecting blood donations would be full, but instead, there are just three pints

  • The Associate Director of Transfusion Medicine, Armando Romero, said the summer is already traditionally low in blood donations and high in trauma cases, and the pandemic has seriously exacerbated this issue

  • Romero said they are desperate for "every single blood type"

She stopped at Cedar's Sinai's mobile donation van on her way out as she left her job there for good to homeschool her two sons, another direct result of a challenging year. But when she heard about the severe blood shortage at this hospital, she had to donate. 

"Because there's a need. And it's a good thing to do," Murga explained.

She said it's a small act to make a big difference.

The Associate Director of Transfusion Medicine, Armando Romero, said each person who donates saves three lives, but that's not just something they tell people to encourage them to donate.

When they're this low in blood, they tap into third parties such as the American Red Cross, but even staff there are seeing an emergency need with less than half a day of supply available for Type O blood. 

"Right now, we're in a situation where we urgently need every single blood type. O-positive and O-negative, yes, definitely a critical need for those, but at this point, we're really desperate for every single blood type," Romero said.

Romero said the summer is already traditionally low in blood donations and high in trauma cases, and the pandemic has seriously exacerbated this issue. 

The blood drives at schools and other locations have come to a complete halt, and now that California has officially reopened, they're seeing a significant spike in surgical and transplant cases. 

"I'd say the spike is likely caused because, throughout the entire pandemic, we had a lot of restrictions in the surgical cases that were being scheduled. So now, as the restrictions are easing, we're seeing a lot of those surgical cases that were previously canceled or rescheduled or postponed. Now they're getting scheduled now," Romero explained.

He said it's an issue affecting hospitals across the nation. The American Red Cross said hospitals are seeing an abnormally high number of traumas and emergency room visits. 

Staff said that red cell demand from trauma centers has grown to more than five times higher than other transfusion facilities. 

Paola Melis remembers what it's like to need blood quickly. It saved her life more than 25 years ago. 

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"I needed blood, and my doctor came to me and said you bled quite a bit, so you need to stay in bed and stay in the hospital, so that's when I got to realize how important blood donations are, and it really inspired me," Melis said.

Now she's been donating blood every six weeks for the last three years.

She and Murga both say it was important, and now Murga is telling her coworkers to come down too. 

"Oh, I have to do it," she said. "There's no excuse."

For a list of blood donation sites, visit: donatebloodcedars.org