ORANGE PARK – January is National Blood Donor Month. This annual observation honors the altruism of blood donors in Northeast Florida and encourages first-time donors to give the gift of life in the new year.

"This is our 53rd year as a country doing national blood donor month," said Lifesouth community development coordinator James Skahn. "I can say that Blood Donor Month really helps to bring awareness in the community for Blood donation. It's not something people think about unless it's right in front of them."

This observance comes at a critical moment for the national blood supply, as only a minority of community blood centers nationwide have enough blood supply to meet the average hospital demand, making it difficult to keep the shelves stocked for patients in need.

"For our hospitals and the region that I am a part of, we need 5,000 units of blood a month to support our hospitals. We do get enough of that," Skahn said. On average, roughly 205 million individuals are eligible to donate blood, but only 3% of those people do.

"When I talk to people, my whole goal is to bring awareness and let people understand that it's not a once-in-a-while thing. We need regular donors pretty bad in the surrounding area, Jacksonville, Clay. If every eligible person donated one pint of blood a year, we would never have a blood shortage."

According to National Blood Centers, one pint of blood can save up to three lives. Healthy adults at least 16 years old and at least 110 pounds may donate about a pint of blood. Minors can donate blood with a parent's permission.

And there are more options to donate than just blood.

"You can come into our centers, and we have something called an apheresis machine, which just takes specific components of your blood and gives the rest back so that you can give platelets more often," said Skahn.

"It gives us the ability to take more than just blood. You can donate red blood cells, platelets, whole blood and plasma. We actually have the ability to take all three products in one sitting, and it's already filtered and separated," said Lab Technician Meredith Gardner. "It goes to cancer patients. Plasma will go to burn victims. Red blood cells typically go to trauma centers because that's what they need."

Unlike other blood centers in our community, donations collected at LifeSouth Community Blood Centers stay in Northeast Florida and are used to treat patients in 70% of our region's hospital beds.

"We provide for all the Baptist locations. Baptist Clay is a recent addition. We just started supplying them because they opened a larger wing," Skahn said. "We provide for all level two traumas in the area. If you get into a trauma accident, there's a good chance that the blood you're getting is coming from us. It's all local donations based."

"A lot of problems arise from not having enough blood supply locally. Without regular blood, people have to delay treatments," said Skahn. "However, we have something called BURT, or Blood Emergency Response Core, that we're a member of. If we're in desperate need and don't have blood, anyone on that list will give us the blood we need in an emergency."

Hospitals need consistent donations to be able to draw from their emergency supply. "We've been in and out of our Emergency need blood supply for as long as I've been here, so for at least two years," he noted.

Blood donors are needed now more than ever.

"Since we support local institutions and there isn't enough blood to supply local hospitals, I do try to encourage people to donate with Lifesouth," said Skahn. "But no matter what, you're doing a good deed when you give blood."

All donors who give in the month of January will receive mini-physical, complimentary snacks and a series of promotions throughout January, including a free T-shirt and e-gift card in thanks for giving the gift of life.

To learn more about the donation process, call LifeSouth at (888) 795-2707 or make an appointment at www.lifesouth.org.