(WKYT) – Donors rolled up their sleeves Tuesday at the Kentucky Blood Center drive at the Central Bank Center.
KBC said it needs about 400 donors every day to keep a safe blood supply for more than 70 hospitals across Kentucky.
Donations tend to drop in the summer as people begin to travel just as trauma cases start to climb.
“We see transfusion going up from our hospital while our donations are going down, and so it puts a strain on our blood supplies,” KBC’s Eric Lindsey said. “It’s why we really try to emphasize to folks out in the community, we need you throughout the year, but we want folks to be intentional and try to make a point of it to come in during the summer months to make sure blood is on the shelves for patients in need during this time of year.”
Lindsey also said summer donations drop in part because high schools are out, so they cannot hold their usual student blood drives.