Regional blood supply dropping; INBC asks for donors

Regional blood donations are down 50 percent this month and the Inland Northwest Blood Center is asking for donations to help them keep up with the demand from local hospitals.

Donations normally drop around the holidays but it’s happening earlier this year, said INBC marketing and communications coordinator Tesia Hummer. “It’s been pretty rough,” she said. “If we keep seeing this, even if we don’t have a trauma situation we’re going to be in a bad place.”

This is also normally the time of year when the amount of blood donations needed goes up because people are traveling more and getting into more car crashes, Hummer said. INBC is the sole blood provider for 35 regional hospitals and at least 200 donors a day are needed. Hummer said that about 30 percent of the blood supply is typically used by cancer patients.

People can choose to donate whole blood, red blood cells only or platelets only. Generally anyone who is healthy can donate, but those with colds or who have recently been on antibiotics are asked to wait.