Blood is vital for hospital operations. At King Edward VII Memorial Hospital blood supplies are checked daily — sometimes several times during the day.Pathology nurse Sue De Verteuil said it’s done to ensure adequate supplies are on hand at all times.“We’ve never run out of blood at the hospital. Although sometimes people hear radio reports that we have run out or about to run out. That’s not true,” she said.“We keep a very close watch on our supplies. We never want to collect a huge amount of each blood type,” she said, explaining that it would be wasteful to hold lots more than is likely to be needed.“We go through about 40 to 50 units of blood every week,” she said.The number of active blood donors has dropped significantly in the past few years and Ms De Verteuil said donors now are often called and requested to give if supplies of their blood type are needed.“When we call a donor and request, we really need their blood,” she saidJust before the May 24 holiday, the Blood Donor Centre requested KEMH staff to donate as a precaution to ensure supplies were kept at necessary levels.“But we are not running out of blood,” Ms De Verteuil stressed, “It’s not an emergency. We put out a request to staff and a request on our Facebook page just before the holiday in our effort to keep ahead of the situation.”Ms De Verteuil said blood donors are always welcome at the Blood Donor Centre telephone number 236-5067.