Georgia: Holidays spark push for more blood donors

Though blood donations are even more in demand during summer holidays such as the Fourth of July, the flow of donors tends to slow to a trickle when most needed, said officials with Blood Assurance.

"They're out of town, they've got family coming in, they're going in to see fireworks. They're not necessarily thinking about donating blood," said Lacey Wilson, spokeswoman for Blood Assurance. The Chattanooga-based blood bank supplies 47 medical facilities in 31 counties in the region.

But holiday weekends often lead to holiday accidents on the highway or at home, so hospitals see an influx of patients.

Blood Assurance is hoping donors will step up to the plate today and Friday and give blood. The blood bank is closed Saturday for the holiday.

The blood bank needs 400 donors every day to supply the region, Ms. Wilson said.

"It's tricky to balance because we don't know what's going to happen," she said. "We don't know how many accidents there are going to be, but we still have to have the adequate supply."

A call went out last week for O-negative -- the blood type that can be used for anyone -- because supply was critically low, said Bob Cheli, North Georgia donor recruiter for Blood Assurance.

Typically, Blood Assurance gets 10 percent of its donations from high school drives. During summer vacation, the group is marketing public drives before the holiday weekend, Mr. Cheli said.

Monica Smith oversees the blood bank at Erlanger hospital. Erlanger is a Level 1 trauma center and treats the most severely injured or ill patients in the region. She said Erlanger could use up to twice as much blood over the Fourth of July as on a typical day.

"We do see a bigger need during the holidays because of more travel, more outdoor activities like boating and bicycling," she said. "In general, the summer months are kind of a trauma season for us."

Hutcheson Medical Center in Fort Oglethorpe also gets blood supplies from Blood Assurance, said Jon Lechler, blood bank supervisor for the hospital.

As a small community hospital, Hutcheson keeps 40 to 50 pints of blood at a time, he said. If that supply is used up, Blood Assurance can bring more within 45 minutes.

"We're fortunate to have Blood Assurance so close by," he said.

Mr. Lechler said he was concerned that Blood Assurance's supplies are low.

"When you deal with patients who have an urgent need for blood and you hear in the news that the blood supply is low, you wonder ... if we'll be able to get everything we need for our patients," he said.