Blood center appeals for donations

LifeShare Blood Center is experiencing a critical blood shortage. Anyone eligible to donate is encouraged to do so.

“We’re running really low,” said Kimberly Moore, LifeShare donor recruiter secretary. “We’ve had a few incidents where they used quite a few units of blood. As of Aug. 10 we only had enough for 1 1/2 days.”

Specifically, LifeShare is hurting for O-negative blood donations. O-negative is the universal donor, meaning it can be given to anyone.

“We’re looking for all blood types, but our main focus is O-neg. If we get some donations, we’ll have to find a place to import from and we’ll have to pay for it. Even that’s hard because right now a lot of people are really low.”

Moore expects donations to increase soon because schools will be back in session and a majority of blood donations come from schools.

“Things will pick up with school. The first school drive is Aug. 17 at Fouke,” Moore said.

Anyone interested in donating blood is encouraged to stop by LifeShare at 1321 College drive, even if they’re not sure they’re eligible to donate.

“If someone thinks they aren’t eligible to donate, we encourage them to come in so we can screen them and see if they’re eligible,” Moore said. “We really just need people to come in.”

LifeShare is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The center will also open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sundays if they are critically low. Call the center to check Sunday availability at 903793-3173.