He said the types of blood that are needed most are O positive, O negative, B positive, and B negative. Officials at DCH Regional Medical Center said its blood supply is at a low point of a year but activities have not been affected. Brad Fisher, hospital communications director, said the Red Cross is the hospital's primary blood supplier while United Blood Services of Jackson, Miss., is a secondary supplier. We are not at the optimum of where we need to be, but we are not at critical levels to the point of where we have had to cancel any surgeries. Fisher said while they are running on an adequate supply of blood, more is needed.
More accidents occur and the cry for blood is greater than that of a normal day.
There are several reasons the blood supply is typically low in the summer including people taking vacations and others choosing to have surgical procedures done in the summer. Fisher said the blood drives done by schools and churches are on hiatus for the summer. Right now, we really just have to hope it doesn't dip too low.