Two of the nation's major blood suppliers are facing severe shortages.
The American Red Cross and LifeSouth Community Blood Centers are both reporting blood donations were down in June, compared with a year ago.
LifeSouth, based in Gainesville, Fla., is in "an emergency state," said Galen Unold, the organization's director of recruitment and retention. "Our blood supply is lower than it has been in four years."
LifeSouth supplies more than 100 hospitals in the Southeast, including Georgia.
Last summer, the blood supply hit a 12-year low, said Kristen Stancil, spokeswoman for the American Red Cross Southern Blood Services Region, and in June of this year donations were down more than 10 percent nationally.
Unold blamed the weather, a slight increase in hospital usage and a decline in blood collections. Stancil said summer is typically a slower period for blood donations because of people going on vacation and students being out of school for the summer. High school and college students account for about 20 percent of donations, she said.
"We're OK right now," said Katherine Watson, a spokeswoman for Northside Hospital, which uses several blood suppliers. "We see a lower number of blood products over the summer, because it's summer. We know to expect this so we have contingencies in place and work with our suppliers to make sure we don't cut services."
Potential donors can go to LifeSouth's website (www.lifesouth.org) to find donation centers. For information on donating to the American Red Cross, go to www.redcrossblood.org.
"Right now, as long as you bleed red, we need you," Unold said.
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