Red Cross pleads for blood donations Donors sought to increase low stock caused by hurricanes and flooding

Hurricanes and flooding in the Southeast have hampered blood supplies which now are critically short at a time when they are needed most, according to officials with the American Red Cross Blood Services New England Region.

With so much destruction from hurricanes and flooding, people haven’t been donating blood as they normally would.

As a result, supplies of O negative – widely used in emergency rooms – B negative and other blood types are in short supply but high demand, according to the American Red Cross. Someone needs blood every two seconds, according to the association’s Web site, www.givelife.org.

“It has a huge ripple effect when you have something like [a hurricane or flood] happen,” said Judy Sullivan, a donor recruitment representative for the American Red Cross Blood Services in Bangor Thursday.

Blood donated in Maine can stay here in the state or be shipped to other states. It goes where it is needed, Sullivan said.

That’s why here in Maine, Red Cross officials are trying to get the word out that blood is needed, if not for use in this state, then for somewhere else.

Signs outside the Bangor Donor Center on Hammond Street proclaim that the need is “Urgent.”

Officials stress that a single donation takes only about an hour, yet can have a wide impact. A pint of blood usually is separated into several parts; red cells are used in operations, and plasma is used for trauma and burn patients, not to mention medicines. At least two people can benefit from each donation, Sullivan said.

“For one hour of your time, two people’s lives are going to be positively impacted, maybe even more,” she said.

Only about 5 percent of Americans donate blood, yet many of them will need blood at some point in their lives, according to the Red Cross.

Places such as Pella Windows & Doors on Main Street in Bangor are stepping up and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today will serve as a blood donation site for employees and also nonemployees. The American Red Cross blood donation bus will be present and can handle two people every 15 minutes.

For information about where to give blood or help out in other ways such as volunteering, people may call 1-800-GIVELIFE, Sullivan said.

In addition to the blood drive at Pella Windows, the Bangor Donor Center will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and can be reached at 941-2900 or 1-800-432-7376.

Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor has its own blood donation program and will hold blood drives this month as well. For further information about the EMMC, contact donor recruiter John Ward at 262-8797.

Other blood drives being held in the coming days include:

. Oct. 8

Greenville, American Legion Hall on Pritham Avenue, 1-6 p.m., Red Cross.

Brewer, Wal-Mart Supercenter, 24 Walton Drive, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., EMMC.

. Oct. 9

Old Town, United Baptist Church, 1-7 p.m., EMMC.

. Oct. 11

Bangor, Bangor Mall, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Red Cross.

Old Town, Curves, 496 Stillwater Ave., 10 a.m.-3 p.m., EMMC.

. Oct. 13

Pittsfield, Maine Central Institute, noon-6 p.m., Red Cross.

Bangor, EMMC, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m., EMMC.