Donor sites ask: Are you my type?

Summer can be the most breathless of seasons, a mad scramble to cram in as many warm-weather activities as humanly possible in just a few short weeks.

And as Labor Day fast approaches, many of us still may be planning to squeeze out that last precious vacation just before the kids go back to school and the curtain falls on yet another Maine summer. With so much to do and so little time, it’s a good bet that one of the last things you may be thinking of adding to your already busy summer calendar is the hour or so it takes to give a pint of blood.

Lora McGeechan understands completely. As the recruiter for the blood donor program at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, she knows all too well that the summer season is traditionally the most difficult time to get blood, with July and August the periods of greatest drought.

But there is a special note of urgency in her voice these days when she speaks about the region’s blood supply. If it’s not at an all-time low, she said Monday, it’s uncomfortably close.

“It’s not an emergency situation at the moment, so we don’t want to scare people,” she said at her office at the Maine Blood Center, 992 Union St. “But supplies are definitely low, very low. Someone who has an accident, for instance, might require as much as 50 pints of blood, and we’re only getting about 50 pints a week in donations, if we’re lucky.”

The hectic pace of summer not only has kept the number of new donors way down, McGeechan said, but even some of the more regular donors are not showing up for their appointments.

While the American Red Cross provides blood to the hospital, McGeechan said, the EMMC donor program was begun last year to help maintain the volume necessary for the largest user of blood supplies in the region. Last month, the Bangor office of the American Red Cross Blood Services New England Region reported that its blood supply was at critical levels – down to a half-day’s supply for five of the eight blood types. Part of the problem, McGeechan said, is that the influx of tourists in summer – including the estimated 100,000 people expected to attend this weekend’s National Folk Festival in Bangor – creates an unusually high potential for accidents whose victims require blood or blood products, such as plasma and platelets.

“If we were to have a catastrophe – a 12-car pileup on the highway, for instance – we would not be in a very good place at all with the blood supply as it is,” she said.

Because desperate times require desperate measures, McGeechan’s recruitment strategies have included dressing like Elvis and carrying a sign that reads, “Don’t be Cruel. Donate Blood,” and appealing to the patriotic crowd at the American Legion Hall in the guise of Uncle Sam’s lesser-known counterpart, Aunt Samantha. On Wednesday evening, the EMMC blood program is sponsoring a singles donors night, called “Are You My Type?” and, with the Bangor Wal-Mart, will be raffling off tickets for a NASCAR race in New Hampshire to benefit the Children’s Miracle Network.

“It’s like pulling teeth to get donors right now,” McGeechan said, “so you’ve really got to be creative.”

For information about donating blood or platelets, call the EMMC donor center at 262-8797.