SHORTAGES OF BLOOD A CONCERN

Donations of blood are always needed. Currently, however, the area is facing a critical shortage of this crucial element of life.

"Our supply is in pretty bad shape right now," said David Palmer. "Over the last few weeks, donorship has been extremely poor."

Palmer is an account representative for the Missouri/Illinois Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross. He is in charge of 17 counties in southern Missouri.

"If the collections for the local area don't improve within the next three weeks," said Palmer, "we will be in serious trouble if any emergencies occur.

"This has been the worst summer we have had for donations in a while. The last time our supply was at this crucial of a stage was January 1990."

Peggy Kitchen, supervisor of the Cape Girardeau Blood Depot, supplies blood to 23 area hospitals in southern Missouri and Illinois.

"Nothing has left this place," said Kitchen. "We're at a fourth of where we should be at for all blood types and the two city hospitals are only getting blood for emergencies."

Kitchen said that the supply for A positive blood is very low right now and that they also desperately need O blood.

Back in March, the Red Cross did not have to worry about such a shortage. Local donors came in and donated in large numbers during the Persian Gulf crisis. Donors were even asked to stop donating so that a surplus would not occur. Blood can only stay fresh enough for transfusions for 42 days.

"I'm really a little puzzled by all this," said Kitchen. "One good thing about the war was that it really increased our supplies.

"But I'm wondering where these people are now. People still need surgery all the time. I wish everyone could see what our supplies of blood look like on the self."

Said Palmer: "People were standing out the doors wanting to give blood during the war. Around the middle of April, donations started to stop. May was also bad for donations.

"Normally, this has been a good area for blood donors. It's hard to explain this current situation."

Kitchen said that a hospital can't start a surgery unless it has six units of the patient's blood type on hand.

Wednesday, the Red Cross held a blood drive at the University Center on the Southeast Missouri State campus. Palmer said that a goal of 50 units of blood was set but that only 40 were donated.

In the next week, however, three blood drives are planned for the area. They are: Sunday at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Scott City from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Wednesday at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Cape Girardeau from 2-7 p.m.) and Thursday at the St. Denis Catholic Church in Benton from 3-8 p.m.

Palmer said the unit goals for the three drives are 40 units at St. Joseph's, 130 at the Holiday Inn and 45 at St. Denis.

"Donating now helps," said Kitchen, "but it takes a while to gradually build up the supply. It takes a good two weeks to get back to the levels we want if people are going out and donating in good numbers.

"This shortage has hurt us a lot earlier than we expected. We may be going into July 4 here with a short supply and that's bad for emergency cases."

Kitchen waits, trying to be patient. She said she hopes there will be a change in the current situation.

"Giving blood is 100 percent safe and people sometimes don't see that they won't catch a disease," said Palmer. "We are doing everything we can here to ensure that a safe supply of blood is available for use."

To give blood, a person must weigh more than 110 pounds, be at least 17 years of age and be in good health.