It's summer and that means family vacations and increased travel, which also means blood centers are hurting from decreased donations.

Area blood centers are in urgent need of donors to keep supply at reasonable levels.

The Independence Day holiday significantly impacted the inventory levels of O-positive and O-negative blood at the Miller-Keystone Blood Center, officials said

More than 500 blood donors are needed every day to keep up with demand for blood for premature infants, accident victims and cancer patients in the region, officials said.

Donations of all blood types are needed, but O-positive and O-negative donors are urgently needed right now.

To schedule a donation, call Miller-Keystone Blood Center at 800-223-6667 or visit giveapint.org.

Miller-Keystone is the only blood supplier to 24 hospitals in Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Lehigh, Luzerne, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia and Schuylkill (PA) and Warren (NJ) counties.