Critical need for O+ blood at Stanford Blood Center

June 29, 2018
Attention News Desk: Press Release (for immediate release)
MEDIA CONTACT:
Loren Magaña 650-529-5828
lmagana@stanford.edu

STANFORD, Calif. — Area residents are being asked to donate O+ blood at Stanford Blood Center to help meet the needs of local hospitals.

Because of a drop in donations over the summer and higher than normal blood usage, the Blood Center has a critically low inventory of this blood type.

“We’ve appealed to our current donor base, and now we’re reaching out to others in the community,” said Stanford Blood Center Spokesperson, Loren Magaña. “If it’s been a few years since your last donation or even if you‘ve never donated before, please consider coming in to one of our centers or visiting a mobile blood drive.”

In the last week, there have been multiple heart patients who have used close to 300 blood products and one recent organ transplant requiring a very high volume of O+ red cells. For roughly one hour of your time, you can help patients in our local community who need life-saving blood transfusions.

Donors should be in good health with no cold or flu symptoms. They must eat well prior to donation, drink fluids and present a photo ID at the time of donation.

While we are critically low in O+ blood all blood types are welcome.

To schedule an appointment at one of our donor centers or mobile drives, please visit sbcdonor.org or call 888-723-7831.

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Stanford Blood Center was created at the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1978 to meet the complex transfusion needs of Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, as well as provide tailored blood products and clinical trial services for school researchers. Today the center provides blood products to 4 local hospitals and is a recognized leader in the field of transfusion medicine. More information is available at stanfordbloodcenter.org .