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CORVALLIS - Health officials are looking to an Oregon State University spring blood drive to help boost blood supplies of all types, as well as allay a continuing shortage of O-negative, B-negative and A-negative blood.

The four-day OSU drive runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, May 16, through Thursday, May 19, in the university's Memorial Union Ballroom. While the primary donors are OSU faculty, staff and students, the public is welcome and no appointments are needed.

A three-day or greater supply of all blood types at regional hospitals is considered optimal, but for O-negative and B-negative, the Pacific Northwest has been stuck in a chronic one-day supply or less of the specific blood types. For A-negative, the supply has been hovering at about a day-and-one-half.

Despite the urgent need for some types of blood, officials stress that all types of blood are needed. With weather warming and the Memorial Day holiday weekend fast approaching, American Red Cross workers say community blood supplies usually dwindle as vacation plans cause donors to forgo donations.

The university holds multi-day blood drives each fall, winter and spring, followed by a one-day drive in the summer. The fall, winter and spring drives at OSU usually provide more than 3,000 units of blood for hospitals in the Northwest.

The OSU blood drive is the largest drive in the Northwest region, but blood drives are held regularly throughout the area. Donors unable to attend the campus sessions can call the American Red Cross at 800-GIVE-LIFE to locate the nearest blood center or drive.

The average adult has about 10 to 12 pints of blood. About 60 percent of the population is eligible to donate blood: of those, only 5 percent actually donate.