RED CROSS IN NEED OF BLOOD DONORS

Blood supplies in the region are downright anemic, and the American Red Cross is urging residents to give blood.

"We're having to borrow blood from our other areas to help out our hospitals," said Shawnna Rhine of the American Red Cross' Cape Girardeau office. "We are comfortable with a two-day supply, and right now we have less than a one-day supply. As soon as the blood comes in, it's already spoken for by the hospitals. It's tested and it's shipped right out the door."

The blood bank has been able to meet all hospitals' needs, Rhine said, but a disaster could wipe out the available inventory of blood for donations, plasma and platelets.

"If we had an earthquake hit the area, there's no telling how we'd wind up, and that's kind of scary," she said.

Collections in the American Red Cross' Missouri-Illinois region, which stretches from Springfield, Ill., to near Kansas City, usually average 1,000 pints of blood a day, Rhine said.

"Right now we're only collecting about 600," she said.

The region includes more than 100 hospitals, Rhine said.

Collections are usually low in the summer months, she said, but have been lower than normal this year.

"First off, we are coming off the end of a bad summer. People have been on vacation. Kids are out of school and everyone's very busy. And donations have been down. People are just not donating," she said.

Hospitals traditionally need more blood over long holiday weekends, and the recent Labor Day holiday put a strain on resources, she said.

On average, Rhine said, someone in the Missouri-Illinois region needs blood every two minutes.

"If the blood's not there, how can we help them?" she said.

The American Red Cross is holding several blood drives around the region in the next several days. For more information, call (573) 339-1822.