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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 1, 2007
DAYTON, OH — (August 1, 2007) There is less than a one day supply of type O+ blood on the shelves at Community Blood Center (CBC), so the emergency appeal for blood donors with type O blood will continue. Yesterday, CBC collected 289 usable units of blood, not nearly enough to meet the regular needs of patients and replenish the blood supply.
Currently, the area’s blood supply is 842 pints below safe and adequate levels. Type O+ is 519 or 43% low. Type O- is 112 or 26% low. CBC is also low on blood type A+. Donors with all blood types are needed each and every day. The best match for a patient in need of a transfusion is blood of the same type. Despite nationwide blood shortages, CBC has been able to obtain blood from other blood centers. However, it will take a local effort to bring the blood supply back to safe and adequate levels.
Recent traumas have depleted the supply of type O+ which is the most common blood type and the universal donor type for patients with A+, B+ or AB+ blood. Patients with any blood type can use type O-negative More than half of the blood that is transfused locally is type O (O+ and O- combined) while about 45% of the population has type O.
“I would like to thank those donors who give on a regular basis and who answered the call for donors yesterday,” stated Judith E. Woll, MD, chief executive officer of CBC. “You are heroes because it is your selfless act of blood donation and your pint of blood that will help save lives in the days to come.”
CBC expects to collect 1,327 pints of blood this week, not enough to meet the regular needs of patients. With the blood emergency in place, CBC’s goal is to collect 500 pints of blood each day this week to help the blood supply recover. CBC needs more than 250 of those 500 pints each day to come from type O donors.
Not every pint collected is a usable pint and not every donor that presents is able to donate. The need for blood continues to climb every year due to advances in medicine and people are living longer. Less than half of the adult population is eligible to donate blood with only 5% of those who could donate actually doing so.
CBC is asking healthy donors who have not given blood in the past two months to donate blood at this time. Donors need to bring a photo ID with their full name and their CBC donor ID card if they have one. Donors can schedule a donation appointment at one of CBC’s fixed sites in Dayton, Middletown, Richmond, Springfield or West Chester.
Community Blood Center-Dayton
349 S. Main Street
Dayton, OH 45402
(937) 461-3450
Community Blood Center-Middletown
3990 Roosevelt Blvd., Suite C
Middletown, OH 45044
(513) 727-1995
Community Blood Center-Richmond
4450 Garwood Place
Richmond, IN 47374
(765) 962-6329
Community Blood Center-Springfield
2200 N. Limestone Street, Suite 106
Springfield, OH 45503
(937) 399-2611
Community Blood Center -West Chester
8731 Union Centre Blvd.
West Chester, OH 45069
(513) 777-4428
Donors must be at least 17 years of age, weigh a minimum of 110 pounds, and be in good physical health. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) changes blood donor eligibility guidelines periodically. Individuals with eligibility questions are invited to email canidonate@cbccts.org or call 1-800-388-GIVE. Prospective donors with recent tattoos obtained in Kentucky or Ohio can now give blood as long as the tattoo area has healed and the procedure was done in a licensed tattoo parlor.
Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services, an independent, not-for-profit organization, is registered to ISO 9001:2000. Community Blood Center provides blood products to 25 hospitals in the Miami (Ohio) and Whitewater (Indiana) Valleys. For more information about Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services, visit www.cbccts.org.
Copyright 2005 Community Blood Center
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