The blood bank serving the Central and South Coasts is asking for help, with officials saying they received more than 20,000 fewer donations than expected during the holiday season. Vitalant tries to maintain a four day blood supply to meet the region’s needs, but the shortfall has reduced the availability to less than two days for certain types of blood.
There’s a special need for platelets, and Type O blood donations. Vitalant has donation centers in Ventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo.
