Blood donors and drives needed in December New Jersey Blood Services, a division of the New York Blood Center, is predicting a severe blood shortage in December that will require blood rationing to area hospitals and patients if blood supply levels do not improve, blood center management reported. Past and potential donors, and those who want to host a blood drive at their job or in their community, are therefore being urged to call New York Blood Center at (800) 933-BLOOD or go to www.nybloodcenter.org to find a convenient blood drive or donation location in New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley and New Jersey. "Despite the fast-approaching holiday season, the need for blood never takes a holiday. And we will definitely have to ration distribution of some blood types in December, and very possibly into 2007 as well, if we don't see donation rates increase and additional blood drives scheduled in December," pointed out Dr. Robert Jones, New York Blood Center president and CEO. New York Blood Center needs close to 2,000 donors a day in order to adequately serve the patient transfusion needs of nearly 200 New York and New Jersey community hospitals, "so we are asking everyone eligible to consider giving the best gift of all - the gift of life - this holiday season," Dr. Jones said. Eligible donors include those people at least age 17 in New Jersey, who weigh a minimum of 110 pounds, are in good health and meet all Food & Drug Administration and New Jersey State Department of Health donor criteria. "The reality is less than 2 percent of people in our local community currently donates, which is far behind the nationwide blood donor participation rate of 5 percent," Dr. Jones explained. "We simply need more donors, and ideally more diverse donors, to address the predicted blood supply/demand gap."