Blood Banks See Recession Cutting Down on Donations

Blood-bank operators in several states say they are seeing the economic downturn’s impact on their collections, with corporate drives drawing fewer donors due to job cuts and overstretched workers, the Associated Press reports.

Michigan Community Blood Centers, which operates in the state with the nation’s highest unemployment rate, has seen donations drop 15 percent to 20 percent this summer. Wisconsin’s Badger-Hawkeye Red Cross had 33 corporate drives canceled from June through August, and Florida Blood Serves in Tampa had to import several thousand units to cover a shortfall last month.

“We are seeing a direct effect of the recession,”’ said Toni Gould, spokeswoman for the Michigan organization. “So many businesses and factories are closing, and they accounted for a large share of mobile drives.”

(Free registration is required to view this article on the New York Times Web site.)