At the halfway point of 2004, the regional blood supply is not where the Red Cross wants it, but it’s not in -bad- shape either. Karen Reuter of North Central Blood Services, which provides blood to dozens of hospitals in Iowa and three other states, says our region has a good reputation for making emergency donations. Reuter says “Other blood center regions really look up to us and say, boy, you guys are really lucky, because when the word gets out there, people step forward and take that hour out of their day to come in and donate blood or they’ll volunteer, if there’s a disaster. They’ll bring in whatever needs to be brought in at the time as well.” Rueter says the current blood supply can be described as adequate. Rueter says “Our supply isn’t at the five-to-seven-day level like where we like to have it. It is around the two-day supply, and if any major disaster or anything happens, we feel pretty confident that we can help supply what needs to be done. We have pretty generous donors.” North Central provides blood to 120 hospitals in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota. Collections are usually slow in the summertime because potential donors are busy with warm-weather activities.
