Over the past few months I’ve become increasingly interested in the US blood supply.
I’ve been thinking about what drives people to donate blood, what methods blood banks are using to recruit and retain donors, and whether these efforts are successful in meeting demand – and at what cost. I’ve noticed that at any given time, it’s not uncommon to see acute shortages of certain blood types in different regions. (See these real-time searches for “blood shortage” on Google News and Twitter to get an idea of this.) It’s hard for me to get a complete handle on the overall supply chain, but there are signs that point to an increasing demand for blood products (through factors like increased prevalence of cancer and other diseases which require high numbers of tranfusions) combined by a simultaneous squeeze on supply (due to demographics, restrictions on donors, etc.).
It seems a given that there should always be an adequate supply of blood products, especially with all the available resources in the US. I’m looking into how big a problem these blood shortages are now, and how big an issue they will be in the future. Contributing towards a robust and sufficient supply chains seems like a worthwhile challenge, and one with a number of possible solutions.
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I became a blood donor late last year, after a family member received an emergency transfusion. The availability of blood products was a critical factor in the health outcome, and my family and I were thankful for the donors who had rolled up their sleeves and made their blood available.
The experience made me realize that donating blood was a relatively easy and quick way to do something both generous and thoughtful for someone else, and an opportunity to feel really good about myself. Becoming a blood donor was an easy decision for me, and a good way to pay forward the gift given by others to my family.
I had to delay my first donation due to my recent travel in Africa, and when November came around I was ready to follow through on my promise. I made an appointment with NY Blood Center, and sent an email to a number of friends to recruit them to come with me. (I also posted a version of the email as a note on my Facebook page.) A few friends wrote back to let me know that they made an appointment or otherwise were thinking about doing so, but I was unsatisfied by the low response.
It occurred to me that unless you were highly motivated to be a donor – or the act of donating was made very low-cost (through a blood drive at work, for instance) – it’s extremely easy to not consider donating blood. My experience made me think that there had to be a better way to put donating blood on people’s radars, and help blood banks to ensure adequate supply (and potentially smarter and cheaper supply chain management).
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While I’ve been thinking about this for a few months, I’ve yet to jump in and start creating. I’m excited now to give it a go, and move from ideation to action plan to product to (hopefully) sustainable business. My working name for this project is Donor Universal, which is a play on “universal donor,” or those with blood type O-.
I feel confident that new tools could help recruit and retain blood donors, more smartly manage the supply chain, and help create a culture where asking and inspiring others to give blood becomes commonplace. And I also feel excited on the cusp of launching a new social venture; many of my feelings are similar to those I felt on the eve of founding Bike & Build, which has been my most rewarding work to date.
As much as possible, I plan on using this blog to share my thinking and progress, engage others in this project, and hold myself accountable in moving forward. I look forward to sharing more insights and questions about the blood supply, ideas (and mock-ups) of tools to be built, and trends in tech and online organizing that have influenced my thinking.
And lastly, I look forward to your comments, insights, and feedback on this project. I’ve read enough start-up blogs to be convinced that actively sharing my ideas (as opposed to stealth mode) is the way to go. Good ideas are a fine starting point, but executing them is the real challenge. And besides, my ultimate goal is to contribute towards ensuring a robust blood supply chain. I don’t think there are too many other people who are actively thinking about how to do this, but if my blogging moves others to develop methods or tools that achieve this goal, the problem will be solved – even if it wasn’t me who solved it.
