MADISON – Employees with LifeSouth Community Blood Centers are working diligently to find donors to help maintain the blood supply for residents of Southeast Texas.

Blood banks in Southeast Texas cannot collect blood donations due to the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. As a result, blood banks across America including LifeSouth are helping maintain the blood supply in flood-stricken areas.

LifeSouth asks blood donors to come in and donate during the first week of September. A critical need exists for donors with type O blood. Type O is the ‘universal’ type that patients with any blood type can receive in transfusion. Emergency scenarios and traumas also require access to type O.

In addition, LifeSouth needs platelet and plasma donations.

Blood drives in Madison will be staged at several locations:

* Dirt Cheap on Madison Blvd. — Aug. 31, 2 to 5 p.m.

* CVS on Old Madison Pike — Sept. 3, noon to 6 p.m.

* Madison County Service Center on Plaza Blvd. — Sept. 5, 2:30 to 5 p.m.

* Walmart on Wall Triana Highway — Sept. 6, 12:30 to 5 p.m.

* Walgreens on U.S. 72 W. — Sept. 6, 10 a.m. to noon

* Madison Mission Seventh-day Adventist Church on Shelton Road — Sept. 9, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Blood donors must be 17 years old minimum. However, 16-year-olds can donate with parental permission, if weight is 110 pounds minimum and the individual is in good health. A photo ID is required.

LifeSouth’s Madison address is 8190 Madison Blvd. Call 256-533-8201. Clinic hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The clinic is closed on Saturday and Sunday.

LifeSouth donors receive a complimentary cholesterol screening with each donation. For additional information on blood donation, call LifeSouth at 888-795-2707 or visit lifesouth.org.