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Officials Worry About Blood Supply As Oklahoma Teacher Walkout Continues

The ongoing teacher walkout could start hurting Oklahoma’s blood supply.

The Oklahoma Blood Institute says the supply is currently stable, but that could change if the teacher walkout and subsequent school closings go on much longer.

Marketing and Media Manager Heather Browne says there are several reasons for a lack of donations right now.

“People are not able to come in because they’re busy with kids that are home, and, also, schools make up 20% of our blood collections, so some of those drives are having to be rescheduled or have been canceled."

Browne says if schools stay closed it could have a real impact on the supply.

“More and more of those drives may not be able to be rescheduled. Luckily, in some communities, mainly in the Tulsa area, such as Claremore, Chelsea and Morris, they’ve been able to actually work with their communities and schedule a blood drive at other alternative locations.”

Browne says the state has already experiences a slight drop in donations during spring break.

The OBI says Oklahoma is especially in need of negative type blood.

Michael Cross is the host of KOSU's Morning Edition.
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