Waugh was the first poster child for the Sylvan N. Goldman Center Oklahoma Blood Institute in Oklahoma City and during a time of critical blood shortages, she is a living testament that blood donors rescue lives.

"It's kind of neat that people were encouraged by my story - that it has since helped other people," Maggie said. "I would have to tell people, 'thank you,' because without them I wouldn't be alive today."

Her parents Scott and Sheri Waugh live in Edmond where her father is a dentist and Sheri works for Edmond Public Schools. Waugh has two older brothers, Scott and Chris. Sheri said OBI became like a second family.

"They were wonderful to us," Sheri Waugh said.

Today, Maggie is a 2001 graduate of Edmond North High School and will start her junior year next semester at Baylor University in Waco, majoring in child and family studies. This summer, she is serving as an intern at the Sylvan N. Goldman Center Oklahoma Blood Institute in Oklahoma City. OBI is a non-profit regional blood center.

She accompanies the blood drive coordinators to donation sites in order to encourage donor participants.

OBI reports that its blood reserves are at critically low proportions. Blood donors are needed today to help meet the continued need for reserves.

"It just kind of makes me sad because there are so many people that need blood," Maggie said. "And you know it doesn't change just because it's summer." As people focus on taking vacations and spending time outdoors, giving blood isn't their first priority, she continued. Maggie said Oklahomans have a neighborly attitude. But sometimes, it's easy to become complacent in one's daily routine by not recognizing the life-saving results that blood donations provide, Waugh said. So it is imperative for eligible donors to give blood on a consistent basis and not just in times of crisis.

"Even when there isn't a national disaster, there are always people who need blood," she said.

In fact, Oklahoma's blood supply is the lowest it has been in two years, said Dr. Ronald O. Gilcher, president/CEO and medical director of Sylvan N. Goldman Center Oklahoma Blood Institute in Oklahoma City. And if everyone eligible would donate blood, they would only need to give blood once every 10 years.

Hospitals report an increased need for blood because of more liver transplants and other surgeries. In addition, a sharp decline in donations occurred as the war in Iraq became less intense.

Group O-type blood is especially needed because it is the universal blood type needed in emergencies.

The last U.S. census reflected more than 286 million people. More than half of the population is capable of donating blood, Dr. Gilcher said. The remaining population is either too young or too ill. But the overwhelming majority of the 143 million possible blood donors never do so. Only 5 percent donate. Of those, 99 percent donate because they were specifically asked.

Three quarters of hospitals in the state, including Edmond Medical Center and Renaissance Women's Hospital, receive blood from OBI, with the remaining blood supply provided by the American Red Cross, Tulsa's Blood Services and United Blood Services in Arizona.

Donor recognition, benefits and incentives are used to motivate donors. OBI was the first blood center in the nation to employ free cholesterol screening for donors. Cholesterol counts depend on total food consumption three weeks before a donation, Gilcher explained.

OBI must continue to get the message out that there is a dire need to get blood on the shelves, Gilcher said.