(Radio Iowa) – The recent heat wave is apparently keeping some Iowa blood donors from giving the gift of life. Danielle West, with LifeServe Blood Center, says while they normally have a three-to-five-day supply of all blood types on the shelves, the supply has dwindled to less than a one-day supply. “Truly right now, we are low in every blood type and we’re lower than we have been in quite some time,” West says. “The first part of the year has been really tough for us we haven’t seen a lot of blood donors come out and our inventory is really, really low — dangerously low at this point.”

Donors are needed immediately as the demand for blood products is continuing to rise. “Everybody is needed. If you’ve never donated before, you don’t even know your blood type, we would still love you to come in and give it a try,” West says. “If you haven’t donated in a while, we have our Steady Eddies that come in so frequently, which is great, but even if we have one or two new people, that makes a big difference.”

There is a constant need for donations as blood products have a short shelf life and the blood supply needs to be continuously replenished. On average, West says someone needs blood every two seconds. “We are encouraging people to make appointments. We have donor centers all over the area, mobile blood drives, so hopefully it’s super-convenient for people,” West says. “From start to finish, you’re in and out within within an hour. You can actually do your questionnaire ahead of time now, which will save you time, and really the donation part is only five to 10 minutes in the chair.”

A blood drive is underway today (Thursday) at Valley West Mall in West Des Moines, with more drives in the coming days in: Ankeny, Pella and Urbandale. Appointments are also available in Ames, Fort Dodge, Mason City and Marshalltown. LifeServe is the only provider of blood and blood products to more than 120 hospitals in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

www.lifeservebloodcenter.org