Paul Sullivan, CEO of the American Red Cross Connecticut Blood Services Region in Farmington, was tracking Tropical Storm Irene late last week. "It's not expected to come close to us," he said, not sounding fully convinced of the forecast.

Marcia Miller, a spokeswoman for division headquarters in Dedham, Mass., said that the five-state area is about "600 units behind where we should be," but that it was better off than many other areas in the country. However, this is cold comfort to Sullivan, who notes that while the Farmington operation expects to collect about 154,000 units of blood this year, it must import about 10,000 units from other states to meet demand. Therefore, shortages elsewhere could ultimately spell trouble for Connecticut.

Sullivan said his operation is strongly focused on increasing blood donations. A new permanent blood drive site will be opened in Norwalk next month in an effort to build collections in that part of the state. Bob Kaufman, the president of Bob's Discount Furniture, has given the Red Cross $175,000 for a new bloodmobile, which will make it possible to conduct blood drives at work sites that lack space for a blood drive, Sullivan said.