With inventories of blood dropping 14 percent since Independence Day, the American Red Cross is appealing for donors both nationally and locally. Red Cross officials said blood supplies are at their lowest in a dozen years.
    “When it gets low, it gets low everywhere,” said Ruth Ann Rogers, coordinator at the Wade Mims Monroe Blood Center at East Georgia Regional Medical Center.
    Summer is normally a time of fewer donations, but this year, with a late spring strike in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey district by Red Cross blood collection workers and with the Red Cross responding to more than 40 major disasters in 30 states in the past three months, the national inventory is in short supply.
    April Phillips, program manager of Communications with the Red Cross in Southeast Georgia, cites that while the strike may have affected collection numbers, blood donations are down across the board.
    Phillips said that more than 20 percent of all the blood collected each year is from high school and college blood drives. “When school is not in session, we see an automatic drop,” said Phillips.
    “The shortage we are seeing now is largely due to the seasonal decline in blood donations during the summer,” Phillips said. “The economy has impacted blood levels because some organizations are able to host fewer blood drives, and others have had to halt hosting blood drives altogether. The vast majority of blood donated is at blood drives in our community. Donation levels are down everywhere … we work off of a National level inventory level and those levels are critically low.”
    The Red Cross Southern Blood Services Region provides blood to more than 120 hospitals and requires that 1,200 people give blood and platelets each weekday to meet hospital demand.
    A negative and B negative are in short supply; however O negative, which can be used to treat any patient, is at a critically low level of less than 10 percent.
    In Statesboro, East Georgia Regional, so far, has reported no delays to any elective surgeries due to the shortage; however, it is a possibility if numbers continue to drop, Phillips said.
    Individuals who are 17 years of age (16 with parental permission in some states), meet weight and height requirements (110 pounds or more, depending on their height) and are in generally good health may be eligible to give blood.
    There will be a blood drive in Metter Monday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Metter Community Center sponsored by the Metter Dairy Queen who is offering a “Pint for a Pint.”
    The Red Cross requests all participants bring a blood donor card or other form of positive ID when coming to donate. Eligible blood donors can call 1-800-733-2767 or visit redcrossblood.org to find a blood drive and to make an appointment.