Chautauqua County is looking to see an increase in blood and bone marrow donations as a shortage continues to persist and hurt access to medical procedures in the county.

At the September meeting for the town of Ellicott Councilman Jim Rensel took the time to note a need for blood donations in the region, due to concerns of a shortage. According to Rensel, who was in attendance at this most recent county legislature meeting, multiple organizations came to speak on the importance of blood donations for cancer research, with one of these organizations being Kallie’s Krusade, a local organization dedicated towards raising donations to help fight childhood cancers.

Blood donations are crucial to many people experiencing cancers, sickle cell, infections, trauma, and more which is why it remains so crucial to not let the area enter into a large shortage, something that happened as recently as last summer. Donors of all types, especially those with types O positive and B negative blood, are asked to make an appointment to give. Between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, weather canceled about 1,500 blood drives, causing more than 40,000 blood donations to go uncollected nationally, according to American Red Cross officials.

The organizations also made note of the amount of ease in donating, stressing that it is a quick process that does not have as heavy of a requirement list as many seem to believe. Most medications, low iron, or travel will not disqualify one from making a donation and if it does it is oftentimes only for a short incubationary period. There is also a greater ease due to their implementation of RapidPass and the bone marrow donation registry. The bone marrow registry allows matches in bone marrow to be detected up to ten years later with a simple swab to the mouth while RapidPass has allowed for all medical history and prescreening questions to be answered online before the appointment, potentially saving some time and hassle by making it easier to know if you qualify to make a donation.

Rensel would like to see this increase for the county as well, noting personal life strugglings which give him a passion for this cause such as losing his brother-in-law to cancer, and continuing to watch his sister-in-law fight it as well.

“I think we’ve all known, or had someone in our lives who is struggling with some type of cancer,” Rensel said.

Anyone looking to donate or find out more information about the services available nearby should visit the Red Cross website at redcrossblood.org. There will be upcoming donation events in the Chautauqua Mall on Sept. 11 and 25 from 12:30p.m. to 5:30p.m., and at The Resource Center on Sept. 19, from 9 a.m. to 2p.m.