IE blood banks at critically low levels

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- If the empty beds inside Lifestream Donor Center inside San Bernardino don't illustrate the blood shortage, then perhaps the shelves inside the refrigerated room where the blood is stored do.

One shelf that typically has dozens of boxes of blood has only one.

"I've been here four-and-a-half years," said Lifestream Vice President of Operations Kevin Moore. "I've never seen it this low in my tenure here."

Moore said at one point over the weekend, Lifestream had half a day's worth of blood type O-positive, and one-fifth a day's worth of blood type O-negative.

"We actually had to purchase blood from outside the state," said Moore.

Moore said blood donations tend to skyrocket after tragedies like the recent mass shootings in San Bernardino and Las Vegas.

"People wanted to do something to those who were impacted," said Moore. "So they were waiting two or three hours at all of our donor centers."

Contrarily, blood donations tend to fall off during the summer months, when families are on vacation and children are out of school.

"We get great participation from our high schools," said Moore. "(But) during the summer there is no high school."

Over the past couple days, the situation has improved slightly, but Moore said the need is still great. People interested in donating blood can call 800-879-4484 or go to lstream.org.