LEWISTON – Anticipated holiday season blood donation shortfalls have prompted the Red Cross Blood Donor Center at Central Maine Medical Center to undertake a public awareness campaign to spur donations.

“The number of people giving blood decreases during the holiday season. People are busy with holiday activities and have difficulty finding the time to give blood. Complicating things for hospitals and others needing blood products is that fact that demand for blood generally increases this time of the year,” said Johanna Ward, manager of transfusion services at CMMC.

To encourage a higher level of donations, the Red Cross Blood Donor Center is teaming with LifeFlight of Maine, the state’s medical helicopter service, to support several special events and promotions for December, including:

December donors will be entered into a raffle for Maineiacs hockey tickets.

LifeFlight of Maine will “adopt” the donor center for the holidays by assisting in recruiting seven whole blood donors a day throughout December. Those who make an appointment as a “LifeFlight donor” will receive a LifeFlight T-shirt and will be entered in a daily raffle sponsored by LifeFlight.

The donor center opened just over a year ago and has become so popular with donors that it recently expanded its operational hours to Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from noon to 7 p.m.

“The donation experience at the center is different from that of a traditional mobile blood drive,” Ward said. “The donor center is staffed by a core group of American Red Cross collection specialists, which allows them to get to know the donors, contributing to a better overall donation experience. Additionally, donor wait times are minimized with most whole blood donations completed in under an hour. Having both whole blood and platelet collections at the same site has led to increased awareness and interest in the pheresis donation process and new platelet donors.”

Those interested in donating should call 795-2260 for whole blood appointments or 1-800-272-2114 for a pheresis platelet appointment.