ELYRIA — LifeShare Community Blood Services’ supply of O negative blood will be exhausted today, according to blood bank officials, and they blame it on the Do-Not-Call list.

Lisa Mayles, director of public relations for LifeShare, made an emergency plea Tuesday for O negative blood, saying that the blood bank had nine units of O negative on hand when she left the office Tuesday evening.

However, those already were spoken for and expected to be shipped overnight to area hospitals for use by nonemergency patients.

“We often have shortages, but this is quite dire,” Mayles said. “We expect that, come morning, there will be zero units on the shelves.”

LifeShare is asking everyone with O negative blood who is at least 17 years of age and in generally good health to donate blood immediately. Walk-in donors are welcome at the agency’s main offices on East Bridge Street and at any of seven neighborhood donor sites including Wellington, Lorain and the Avon Lake location, which is open only on Saturdays.

As the sole supplier of blood to Lorain County hospitals, LifeShare typically ships 35 units of O negative blood to hospitals during an average week. But in the last week, the number of units of O negative shipped has nearly tripled to 91. Most were needed for emergencies at local hospitals, including one case in which an open-heart surgery patient required 10 units. O negative blood is the only blood type that can be safely given to anyone regardless of their own blood type, Mayles said.

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

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