Stanford Blood Center Joins CBS-5 for Summer Blood Drive.

STANFORD, Calif. -- On July 7, the Stanford Blood Center is teaming up with CBS-5 and weather anchor Roberta Gonzales for a blood drive at the Fairmont Plaza in downtown San Jose from 5:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The center's bloodmobile will park between the Fairmont and the San Jose Museum of Art while Gonzales broadcasts her "Early Edition" weather forecasts.

Blood supplies remain low this summer and all eligible people are urged to donate. Most high schools and colleges are out of session for the summer, and many company employees take vacations, resulting in a 40 percent drop in the number of blood drives, said blood center spokesperson Michelle Bussenius.

Yet the need for blood continues. Rh-negative blood is in particularly short supply, she said. Across the region, fewer than 4 percent of those eligible to donate blood actually do so.

The Stanford center must collect 400 units of blood each day to meet the needs of local patients. One out of every 10 patients entering a hospital needs blood.

For more information about donating blood, contact the blood center at [phone] or [phone]. Donors should be in good health with no cold or flu symptoms. They must eat well prior to donation, drink fluids, and present photo identification at the time of donation. The entire process takes about an hour. For more information or to schedule an appointment online, please visit the center's Web site at http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu.