Local Blood Drives Help Ease Shortage

A last-minute blood drive at Stony Brook University collected 156 pints of blood on Tuesday, one of a handful of local drives that the Long Island Blood Services is counting on to help ease a shortage in bloody supply created by Hurricane Sandy.

Another drive at W.S. Mount Elementary on Wednesday until 8:30 p.m. is expected to help ease the shortage as well.

"What we’re really trying to do now is trying to replace the blood that was unable to be collected during the storm," said Sue Lingenfelter, a field manager with Long Island Blood Services. "All of our drives have thankfully been producing more than they normally do because people have been hearing about the situation. ... We’re in kind of a catchup mode right now."

Many locations throughout Long Island that had planned blood drives during the past two weeks had to cancel because they had no power, she said. The Long Island Blood Center needs to collect 800 pints of blood per week to support the needs at more than 50 medical centers in Suffolk, Nassau and Queens.

Additional blood drives in the area are scheduled as follows:

• Stony Brook University on Monday and Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Student Activities Center
• Tropical Smoothie Café in Port Jefferson Station on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.