The blood supply for the region, which includes 110 hospitals in 80 North Carolina counties, is at its lowest point since Jan. 2000, when heavy snow prevented many donors from giving blood.
"Demand is high," said Casey Copp, director of blood services for the Orange County Red Cross. "The region requires 1,500 units of blood per day to stay up with demand. We like to keep a three-day supply and we only have a day and a half supply left now."
Copp said the shortage has worsened in recent weeks despite the fact that the Carolinas Region is the only region to top 350,000 units of blood donated this fiscal year.
"Only 5 percent of the people in the U.S. give blood, yet 97 percent will need a blood product by the age of 72," Copp said.
"There is an urgent need for blood," said Carolinas Region Blood Services Donor Recruitment Representative Dawn Varnum. "Our supply of O- or universal blood type (is low). That is the kind usually needed for trauma victims.
"One of the reasons the Red Cross targets high schools and colleges is that young peoples' blood is CMV-, meaning it does not contain the Cytomeglo Virus, a substance that can be harmful to infants and pediatric patients whose immune systems are still forming," Varnum said.
UNC students may soon have the opportunity to save lives by giving blood at several times and locations around campus.
There will be a blood drive Feb. 8 from noon to 4:30 p.m. at the UNC School of Law.
Students wishing to give blood must weigh at least 110 pounds, feel well, have eaten a healthy breakfast and not have had tattoo work done in the past year.
