If there wasn't, the members of the Interorganizational Task Force on Domestic Disasters and Acts of Terrorism, which was created in 2002 in response to Sept. 11, would declare a regional state of disaster with the blood supply.
Luckily, they didn't have to.
In addition to the blood they were able to quickly ship down, so many people in and around Orlando rushed to donate blood after hearing about the massacre that the banks were turning people away and encouraging them to come back later in the week. In Puerto Rico, the task force recently intervened and asked the island to stop collecting blood donations because of the Zika virus outbreak.
But there's one group of people who largely can't donate blood: gay men. The federal government eased its ban in December 2015 -- but only for gay men who have been celibate for a year. This ban particularly stings in Orlando, where many gay men can't help their fellow LGBT members who were targeted in the attack.
The Orlando shooting has highlighted this public health issue as well as the importance and problems associated with blood donation and supply.
The business of collecting blood is a complex one. Most blood centers are nonprofits and are heavily regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration. There are limits, for example, on how much blood can be stored in a single center. They're determined by factors such as the size of the center and its staff. They also have to answer to hospitals, ready to supply at a moment’s notice. So while a bank never wants to be low on blood supply, it also can’t overcollect.
“It’s not like hospitals call them up and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to have 45 trauma cases tomorrow, so we’re going to need a lot of blood,” said Block.
To prevent a situation where a disaster strikes and there's isn't enough blood nearby, Blood Centers of America (BCA) set up a software program that lets centers quickly buy and sell blood from one another. Called the “ebay for blood,” the BCA's resource sharing system is also open to similar organizations like the American Red Cross for a 1 percent fee on purchases.
If a center is running low, it simply buys blood from a bank that's close to reaching its capacity. It's then shipped via UPS or FedEx. The system ships around 300,000 units of blood products a year across the United States, according to Block.
Probably because they have more hospitals and therefore more people to serve, blood centers in more densely populated areas like New York City tend to need imports a bit more often.
But even if a blood center is fully stocked, that doesn't exempt it from the financial problems some are running into more and more.
Hospitals, increasingly unhappy with reimbursement rates, have become focused on buying supplies at a lower rate.
“A hospital can come to a blood center and ask for a 10 percent reduction in price," said Block. "If a center is only getting a slim profit of margin on their blood sales, that’s a big hit."
While the rapid response from the Orlando community is great, Block stresses that there needs to be blood on the shelf all year round. It's not uncommon for there to be a universal slump in donations in the summer and around the holidays.
“It is great that donors line up after the disaster," said Block, "but we need our community to have blood donations as a regular event in their life."
