Officials of Blood Assurance, the region’s blood center, say flu and vacations have slashed donor numbers recently and are asking the public to step up and give.
A spate of recent shootings in Chattanooga depleted the supply of platelets last weekend below the normal level, said Jay Baumgardner, executive director of marketing and community outreach for the center.
“Due to violence in our community, we went through a lot of platelets,” Baumgardner said.
Supplies of platelets caught back up and now are adequate, he said, but the agency operates on a thin margin.
Blood Assurance needs about 60 units of platelets every day, Baumgardner said, much of it for leukemia patients. One unit equals one dose for a patient.