Stanford Blood Center Has Urgent Need for Type O Blood

May 16, 2019
Attention News Desk: Press Release (for immediate release)
MEDIA CONTACT:
Ross Coyle | 650-725-3804
rcoyle@stanford.edu

STANFORD, Calif. — Bay Area residents are being asked to donate type O blood at Stanford Blood Center (SBC) to meet the immediate and ongoing need for life-saving O blood products.

Stanford Blood Center has been supporting a number of patients who have required large amounts of blood products, and now has a critically low supply of both O positive (O+) and O negative (O-) blood.

“Last week alone, patients at our local partner hospitals required more than 1,000 units of red blood cells, including over 170 units of O- red blood cells (RBCs),” said Dr. Tho Pham, Chief Medical Officer at Stanford Blood Center. “In addition, we supported multiple heart and liver transplant patients who required approximately 125 units of O+ RBCs, as well as emergent and trauma patients who used more than 50 units of RBCs.”

Donors with all blood types are always welcomed and appreciated, but type O+ and type O- are needed most now.

“When we’re sending out more blood products than we are taking in due to high need at our partner hospitals, we reach out to our current, dedicated group of donors as well as the larger community to help replenish the blood supply to sustainable levels,” says SBC spokesperson Ross Coyle. “We urgently need O+ and O- blood to be able to meet the needs of local patients, so we’re calling on donors to make their earliest available appointment. All it takes is about an hour of your time, and you can help save the lives of up to three patients with a single donation.”

Donors are encouraged to walk in to one of three donation center locations in Campbell, Menlo Park, or Mountain View. Appointments can be scheduled online at stanfordbloodcenter.org or by calling 888-723-7831 for same-day appointments.

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Stanford Blood Center (SBC) is an independent, community blood center that supplies blood and blood components to five Bay Area hospitals and is a recognized leader in the fields of transfusion and transplantation medicine. SBC 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 clinical trial services for school researchers. Today the center remains locally-focused, serving community hospitals and patients, while contributing to research and advancement that impact the world at large. More information is available at stanfordbloodcenter.org.