Ottawa Hospital working to rebuild donated blood stores after transformer fire

The Ottawa Hospital is working to restore its stock of donated blood after Friday's transformer fire at the General Campus led to refrigerators failing.

Hospital CEO Cameron Love told Newstalk 580 CFRA's Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron that about 400 units of blood were lost as a result of the power outage.

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"Much of our medications, our blood products, and other temperature-sensitive materials are stored in fridges," he said. "Things like that have a half-life that is very short, which means that after a period of time, you have to dispose of them."

A blood donation is approximately 450 mL, meaning as much as 180 litres of blood would have been destroyed. Blood products can include components such as platelets, red blood cells, and plasma. It's not known what kinds of blood products were included in the 400 units that were lost.

"It's not the first time we've had issues with this over the last 20 years, but it is the most severe," Love said, adding that the hospital has a continuous working relationship with Canadian Blood Services and other agencies.

"That whole team has an entire infrastructure of how we deal with emergency situations."

Canadian Blood Services told CTV News Ottawa in a statement it has already delivered some blood to the hospital.

"Canadian Blood Services has worked closely with The Ottawa Hospital throughout the hospital’s recent power loss to replenish the blood supply at the General Campus. Since Saturday, Canadian Blood Services has delivered over 200 units of blood to The Ottawa Hospital," it said.

Love said the loss is not directly affecting care right now, but it's important to have it on hand when surgeries resume.

"We haven't had any impacts in terms of not being able to provide care because of that loss, but it does take time to get that fully restored," he said. "As we resume all of our surgical programs in our emergency department, we have to have that blood on hand."

Residents with loved ones who need regular blood transfusions are pleading for help from the public as well.

"The urgent need right now is blood," said Carolyn Eastwood.

Her husband Murray Provencal is a patient at the General Campus and relies on blood donations. After last week’s fire, she’s learned there may not be enough blood supply for her husband.

"They came in and said we can’t give you platelets, there are none available. There are six units available and they’re keeping them for anyone who is bleeding," she said.

Eastwood says there was a complication on Monday when her husband's platelet levels fell low.

He managed to get the blood he needed but she worries what could happen if the supply doesn't get back to normal.

"It's not fair doctors have to choose between patients who is getting blood," said Eastwood. "They've got enough to do without having to decide things like that. Hopefully people will get out, make a donation, and make a difference because that's what's needed."

Dr. Sarah Lawrence, the NICU Site Director at the Ottawa Hospital’s General Campus said the loss of those blood products is part of the reasons babies and mothers were moved after the fire.

The hospital has been in a "code orange" since the fire, asking people seeking emergency care to go to other hospitals, such as the Queensway Carleton Hospital or the Montfort.

On Tuesday, the hospital began accepting some patients at the emergency department.

"We are also now able to safely accept higher acuity patients via ambulance to the General Campus Emergency Department, which is an important step towards increasing access to care for everyone in our community," said hospital spokesperson Rebecca Abelson in an updated statement Tuesday evening.

"Thank you to everyone involved, including staff and patients, for their understanding during this process."

Love says there are three units that still need to be brought back online after the fire. He is hoping to have them ready before the end of this week.

"The NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) has been restored and babies were transferred back from CHEO yesterday, so the obstetrics floor with the NICU is back up and running, which is great," said Love. "We've got our transplant unit back up and running and patients have been transferred back to that unit. We'll hopefully be able to get the other three up sometime between now and midday Thursday."

The General Campus's 16 operating rooms should be open by late Thursday and early Friday, he said. 

--With files from CTV News Ottawa's Jackie Perez.