Snow storm drained region’s blood supply

The storm that left Washington state snowbound last week had a devastating effect on the region’s blood supply.

Tacoma-based Cascade Regional Blood Services canceled 17 of its blood drives last week, according to spokesman Jared Yslas. It normally holds 20 to 25 blood drives in the same period.

Cascade is still not up to its normal levels of blood, Yslas said on Wednesday.

“We had to close our doors totally (on Feb. 9),” he said.

On days during and following the storm, the agency kept shortened hours. That included at its Tacoma, Puyallup and Federal Way locations.

Some 30 percent of the organization’s blood donations come from drives at high schools and colleges. The schools were shut down for the most of last week.

As soon as they could, regular donors came to the blood centers to donate, he said.

“We had a few of the diehard donors show up,” Yslas said. “But, we were in a tight spot.”

He encouraged donors to continue giving.

“It’s important for that regular blood donor to be there regularly,” Yslas said.

This story was originally published February 20, 2019 at 5:16 PM.