RED CROSS FINDS BLOOD DONATIONS SLOW SINCE END OF GULF WAR

The Red Cross needs you well, your blood that is.

Red Cross officials report that area donations have dropped dramatically. And if that trend continues, they warn it could lead to a summer blood shortage.

"It's been real slow," said Dave Palmer with the Cape Girardeau County chapter of the American Red Cross. "Collections have been bad. We're holding our own, but if this continues we'll definitely be looking at some serious problems heading into Memorial Day."

Palmer said recent blood drives have netted far fewer units of blood than organizers had expected. He said the Red Cross is worried that, as a result, the blood supply at local hospitals will suffer.

"What's happened is, we had such an outpouring (of donations) in January and March when the blood supply was in excellent shape," he said. "But when the war ended and everybody was coming home, things started slowing down."

Since the first of May, donations in the entire Southeast Missouri area have been well below average, he said.

For instance, a blood drive in Jackson in January netted 224 units. But at this month's Jackson drive, residents donated only 88 units. A monthly drive, held at Cape Girardeau's Holiday Inn Convention Center, that usually brings in at least 130 units, did not net even 100 units.

The months of May, June, July and August are normally "a struggle" for the Red Cross, Palmer said. Schools are closed, people are taking vacations and the accident rate can be higher, especially from Memorial Day through Labor Day the hardest time of the year to keep an adequate level of blood on hand.

This year, some of the less-generous giving can be attributed to the abundance of donations during the war. Blood given during the winter months has either been used or has reached the end of its 42-day shelf life, he said.

"People have this misconception that we can stay in good shape for a long time," he said. "They need to remember that we need a regular schedule of donations. It's an ongoing thing."

Palmer said the Red Cross hopes people who gave blood during the war will continue to donate blood on a regular basis. He said his organization's supply of blood has a direct bearing on blood supplies at local hospitals.

"If the Red Cross supply is down, the local hospital supply is down," he said.

Today, Notre Dame High School in Cape Girardeau is holding a blood drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. On Saturday, a drive will be held at the Memorial Wesleyan Church, 210 Outer Road in Scott City, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A Red Cross mobile unit will be in Cape Girardeau in June, Palmer said. So far, scheduled stops include June 12 at the Schnucks/Kmart parking lot and June 14 at the JCPenney parking lot.

Palmer said O-negative blood is in very short supply.

"We're definitely in a sort of slump, so we really encourage people to come out and help us," he said.

Additional drives are scheduled on Thursday at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Scott City and on May 29 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Cape Girardeau.

The regular monthly drive at the Holiday Inn is held the last Wednesday of every month from 2 to 7 p.m. The drive used to be held at the A.C. Brase Arena Building.

To donate blood, a person must be in good health, be at least 17 years old and weigh at least 110 pounds.