DAPHNE, Ala. — Blood donation will be convenient for Baldwin County residents when LifeSouth Community Blood Centers opens on Wednesday.

Daphne’s LifeSouth branch — just north of the Magnolia Place shopping center on U.S. Highway 98 — will take walk-ins and pre-arranged blood donations; it is the first of four new LifeSouth locations in the area. Others will be at Thomas Hospital, Fairhope; Hillcrest Road, Mobile; and in Mobile Infirmary.

It seems that the 4,500-square-foot Daphne facility, with its 16 employees, may provide a more convenient location for Eastern Shore residents who choose to donate blood.

“Presently, we’ve been having to send people to the Red Cross in west Mobile,” Art Goodson, Thomas Hospital clinical laboratory director, said.

Blood from LifeSouth will be distributed to the following Baldwin and Mobile County hospitals:

“This is part of the partnership with the local hospitals. As being the sole provider of blood for local hospitals, they wanted a donor location in Baldwin County,” Pam Pace, LifeSouth branch manager, said.

“No longer do they (donors) have to worry about the blood leaving their area. The blood is here for their use — in their community,” she said.

LifeSouth encourages donations not only through convenience; the facility also offers a comfortable environment. Daphne’s branch has televisions so that donors can enjoy themselves during procedures.

The blood bank allows several donation types, including a double-red blood cell collection — when someone makes two red blood cell donations during one visit, Pace said. The process takes “the pure red blood cells; you keep the watery units — platelets and plasma.

“The government says you can do it once every 16 weeks and it doesn’t hurt you.”

An apheresis blood collection — extracting only platelets — benefits cancer victims, according to Pace.

“It doesn’t cure cancer, but it prolongs life,” she said.

There are also autologous donations, that is, giving a unit of blood for a person’s own upcoming surgery.

“We can do that right here and store the blood till you need it,” she said.

LifeSouth also facilitates directed donations, such as blood intended for a family member or friend, though blood types must match.

The need for blood is high because hospitals use so much of this life source, Pace said.

“Daily usage here in Baldwin County is around 75 to 80 units per day,” she said.

Several factors contribute to the growing demand, Goodson said.

“More service men have been deferred because they’ve been out of the country. The donor base is shrinking. Criteria are getting a little bit tougher,” he said. “More surgeries are being done in Baldwin County, where our health industry is getting bigger. We’re keeping more patients longer. … As we grow … we need a larger amount of blood product to do that.”

Reaching donors is a major goal, Pace said.

“The need for blood — it doesn’t stop. If we can plant the seed to become a regular donor, then we’ve met our goal,” she said. “A few short minutes and the feeling that you get knowing that you just saved three lives — it’s incredible. It still gets me and I work here every day.”