(NEWS CENTER Maine) -- No matter which arm a donor chooses, volunteers can flip a chair to accommodate in no time.
"If they are a left arm donor they used to have to wait until a bed was available," explains Kathy Vincent, collections manager for Red Cross of Maine. "Now the beds we have can move so that we can do either arm from that one bed that will help considerably with their late time and getting their processing done really quickly."
With more beds, space to move around, and a 2-hour radius from its home in Portland, the Red Cross of Maine's new blood mobile unit will help reach places the organization has never gone before.
"When we go into a community we usually look for a building or a room that we could set up our blood drive in, and a lot of these rural communities don't have that type of facility available," says Vincent.
"It's almost equivalent to a full blood drive that's occurring inside somewhere," adds Jeff Davis, district manager of donor recruitment for the state of Maine.
Red Cross officials are hopeful the comfort and convenience of the blood mobile will draw more people to make up for a donation deficit. They say the need is higher than ever, because of the latest round of nor'easters and the severity of this flu season.
"We've seen a 15% to 20% reduction in the amount of donors that have come out because they've got flu-like symptoms," says Vincent.
The Red Cross can share donations nationwide. To do so, it must collect more than 13,000 blood and platelet donations every day because every two seconds someone's life depends on it.
"When you donate that one unit of blood it can go up to three patient recipients," explains Vincent.
Thanks to a tour bus-sized blood mobile funded by humanitarian partners and donations, the process for Maine donors to give blood is a little more streamlined.
Know your blood type? If you have type O, there's an urgent need. It's what emergency room nurses reach for when there is no time to determine a patient's blood type in serious situations.
► RELATED | Sign up for NEWS CENTER Maine's Blood Drive
No matter your blood type, you can be someone's hero at the NEWS CENTER Maine Red Cross blood drive on Wednesday, March 28th at locations across the state.
There will be five locations:
- Portland: Holiday Inn by the Bay (8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
- Lewiston: Ramada Conference Center (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
- Rockland: Rockland Public Library (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.)
- Waterville: Robert LaFleur Airport (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
- Bangor: Anah Shrine Temple (Noon to 5 p.m.)
Walk-ins are welcome. To register ahead of time, click here.