St. Louis Cardinals blood drive happening around the Metro East through Thursday

Level two collection specialist Bria Haithcoat moniters Mohamed Saler, of O'fallon, as he donates blood.

Level two collection specialist Bria Haithcoat moniters Mohamed Saler, of O’fallon, as he donates blood.

Kristina Johnson | The Intelligencer

As the summer approaches, blood drives will begin to pop up more as the impact of blood shortages begin to be seen.

“We’re trying to get in as many people as possible,” Account Manager Tiffani Cole said. “It’s so common to hit a shortage over the summer. A big reason is because a big portion of our blood supplies is from schools, and when schools go out of session we lose all of those students.”

As students begin to travel, the need for donors goes up. To combat the decrease in donors, Cole said the blood drive is strategically held during the beginning of summer to bring out as many participants as possible.

At Columbus Plaza, 1 Columbus Plaza, Collinsville, their goal is to reach 70 units of blood. As each person can donate 1 unit, Cole said it’s important to get as many people in as possible to hit their goal. There are two options in which blood donors can choose upon arriving. The first is a power red cell donation, which can be delivered to hospitals, and other medicial fields, for immediate use. The other is taking the full blood donation and going through a filtration process.

“The [power red cell] donation is fantastic because we take that concentrated amount of red cells, which is already separated and gets to the hospitals quicker. What we do with a regular whole blood unit is taking the whole blood, test it, separate into platelets, plasma and red cells, then it goes to the hospital. It’s a longer process,” Cole said.

The average person can donate up to six times a year, but Cole said by donating using the power red cell donation, the blood is equivalent to two times a regular unit of blood. If you decide to donate, the St. Louis Cardinals have sponsored and provided free T-shirts to all participating donors.

Since the start of the Cardinals blood drive, there have been more than 14,000 blood drives with 23 locations varying across Illinois and Missouri. This year, the drive will continue through Thursday, June 17. Columbus Plaza’s blood drive is open for donors from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The drive does encourage participants to reserve a time to donate. To find the closest location and book an appointment time, visit their website