Community groups from Farmingdale to Valley Stream are playing a key role in Long Island Blood Services' (LIBS) current emergency blood appeal, through the sponsorship of local drives. Now, blood collection organizers have noted, it's time for donors to step up to the plate.

Supply of the life-saving fluid, particularly type 'O' blood, has reached critically low levels in recent weeks, forcing LIBS to cut back supply to local hospitals. It is a predicament which has come to be expected this time of year, due to a reduction in collection during the winter's severe weather, holidays and flu season.

Among those community blood drives being held to replenish the supply is the one sponsored annually by the Farmingdale Parent Teacher Association (PTA). Through increased publicity, the group has beefed up efforts to attract donors to this year's drive, due to the severity of the current shortage, according to Kathy Dowling, president.

The PTA collected about 150 to 160 pints of blood during its first drive, held in 1995, and about 160 to 170 pints during each successive year. "We're hopeful of meeting and exceeding those goals," said Dowling, who, with the help of fellow PTA members, has mailed fliers about the event to parents and posted others throughout Farmingdale. "Walk-ins are more than welcome."

Linda Levi, a spokesperson for LIBS noted that donations from local communities play a crucial role in the blood program, particularly on Long Island, where their participation is greater than that of businesses.

"Every time we've asked the community to help us out, they've done the best they can. We're hoping that this month people pay a little more attention, because January is National Volunteer Blood Donor Month," she said. "It's a really good and easy New Year's resolution to make..Here's something that you can do. It'll take not even an hour of your time, and you'll feel good about having done it, and several other people will feel great, because your donation will have saved the lives, potentially, of several other people."

From year to year, less people are donating, according to Levi, and they're donating less frequently. For example, across the country, about 5 percent of the eligible donor population actually donates. In the New York area, that figure is only about 2 percent.

While donors are scarce, those in need of blood are plentiful.

"Even if [the blood] comes in, which we hope it does, it goes out pretty quickly. Within about 24 to 48 hours after it's tested, it's out to the hospitals again, so we need to constantly replenish the blood supply - in particular type O," said Levi. There is currently only a one-to two day reserve of that type, and LIBS generally seeks to have at least a 5-day reserve.

Type O is traditionally most in demand for two reasons. First, it is the most common type of blood; about 50 percent of all people have either type O+ or O- blood. In addition, type O-, in an emergency, can be given to anyone.

"We can't afford to sit back. Even if we have a bit more of the other types of blood, we still need to get that O level up," Levi said. "We have so little of it, that we've been forced to cut back deliveries to hospitals to keep back a small amount for the true emergency - if an officer is shot, if there's a plane crash. One person injured in the line of duty, for example, could go through 50 to 100 units of blood, very commonly, and still it might not save their life."

To be eligible to donate, one must be at least 17 years of age, in general good health, and weigh at least 110 pounds.

Levi noted that although a common reason for choosing not to donate is a fear of the transmission of diseases, "There's no way you can get sick from donating blood...All of the equipment used in the donation is used by you and you alone and thrown away right after you donate."

She added, "We need to support each other. We never know from day to day, whether we might need that blood, someone in our family, a neighbor, or even a total stranger. I'd like to think that all of us, when asked, would help out another human being. Really, these community blood drives are the backbone of the community's blood supply."

The Farmingdale PTA blood drive will be held on Jan. 19 from 3:30 to 9 p.m. at Woodward Parkway Elementary School, Farmingdale. In addition, St. Martin of Tours Knights of Columbus is sponsoring a blood drive at their hall, located at 517 Central Ave., Bethpage, on Jan. 27 from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. In Melville, a drive at the Bank of New York, 525 Broadhollow Road, will be held from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 26. Those seeking additional, general information on becoming a donor may call the Blood Services hotline at 800-933-2566.