Stanford Blood Center Urges Type-O Blood Donations

2004
Attention News Desk: Press Release (for immediate release)
MEDIA CONTACT:
Michele Hyndman (650) 723-8237
mhyndman@stanford.edu
MA Malone (650) 723-6912
nealem@stanford.edu

STANFORD, Calif. – Area residents with type-O blood are being asked to donate blood at the Stanford Blood Center to meet the current high demand at local hospitals. Type-O blood is needed for patients undergoing heart surgeries as well as several liver transplant patients.

“During the first 10 days of February, Stanford Hospital had 10 liver transplant surgeries in addition to normal patient usage, which depleted most of our inventory. We’ve had to import a lot of blood to keep up with the hospital’s demand,” said Michele Hyndman, spokesperson for the blood center. The center is having difficulty importing additional units of type-O blood.

Normal usage is approximately 800 units of blood per week. The blood center shipped more than 1,100 units of blood to area hospitals last week and is on track to ship 1,200 units this week, Hyndman said. People who have type-O blood are known as universal donors because in an emergency, type-O blood can be given to anyone although it is best when patients receive a matching blood type. Donors of all blood types are urged to donate on a regular basis to prevent shortages.

The Stanford Blood Center has locations in Palo Alto across from Stanford Hospital, and in Mountain View across from El Camino Hospital. The Palo Alto location at 780 Welch Road, Suite 100, now houses both the whole blood and automated blood collection (also known as apheresis) areas.

The center supplies blood to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford Hospital & Clinics, the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, El Camino Hospital and O’Connor Hospital in San Jose.

Donors can call (650) 723-7831 or toll-free (888) 723-7831 to make an appointment, learn hours of operation and get directions. Donors should be in good health with no cold or flu symptoms. They must eat well prior to donation, drink fluids and present photo identification at the time of donation. The process takes about an hour, and a single donation can help up to three different patients. For more information or to schedule an appointment online, please visit https://bloodcenter-stg.stanford.edu.

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Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions – Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. For more information, please visit the Web site of the medical center’s Office of Communication & Public Affairs at http://mednews.stanford.edu.