James Black - Giving Blood

During summer, blood donations drop by 20 percent.  Regional director of LifeShare Lake Charles Shawn Melancon said, “The summers are always a difficult time for us; we always need donations during the summertime. The demand increases, the usage increases, but unfortunately, donations decrease. So, we need to try to get people to come out and donate. During the summertime, we are in the middle of hurricane season, so that can cause an additional layer of problems in the blood supply.”  Donations during this time are crucial to ensure blood products are available to those in need.  A single donation can impact up to three people, since most whole blood donations are separated into individual components: red cells, platelets, and plasma.  There have been some eligibility changes recently, like in the past, some people have been found ineligible to donate blood due to spending time living in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s, but that has since been lifted. James is a Senior Public Relations Specialist with Carter BloodCare, an independent, community blood center providing transfusion resources to more than 200 medical facilities in 50-plus counties of North, Central and East Texas