Press release from The Blood Connection:
Spring is in the air and pollen is back with a vengeance. With many people feeling the effects of allergy season, The Blood Connection is asking those who feel well to donate blood now. TBC has an urgent need for O-Negative blood, the universal blood type.
O-Negative donors ensure that blood is available for hospital patients, whenever they need it. One donation, one simple decision to give, can save up to three lives. As the primary blood supplier for a dozen hospitals in Western North Carolina, O-Negative donors who give with TBC are making sure their families and neighbors are taken care of, especially in emergency situations. The need for O-Negative blood never stops. It’s needed hour by hour to help a multitude of patients. That cannot be underestimated. Sharing life in this time of need is the perfect picture of neighbors selflessly helping neighbors.
“While every donation is vitally needed, O- negative can be received by all hospital patients whether they’re an O, A, B or AB blood type, and this is crucial in trauma situations,” said TBC President and CEO Delisa English. “It’s a non-stop critical need. One in seven people who visit a hospital need blood. Unfortunately, less than ten percent of eligible donors actually give. And, national statistics show that every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. Those numbers speak for themselves.”
English says an unexpected trauma can require 20 pints of blood or more. If there happens to be multiple traumas that require blood, the community supply could be dramatically reduced. TBC needs the community’s support to provide no matter what.
Cancer patients are usually the number one recipients of blood products, but blood is also needed for burn victims, premature infants, car accident victims, heart surgery patients and organ transplant patients, to name a few. Since blood cannot be replicated, volunteer donors are the only source of blood products.
TBC is asking O-Negative donors to step up and help their neighbors in the WNC community. Although TBC is specifically requesting O-negative blood donations, all blood types are needed. Blood donors must be healthy, weigh at least 110 pounds, and be 17 years old or 16 with written parental consent.
Donors can visit www.thebloodconnection.org to find a blood drive. They can also give at the local TBC’s donation center: 225 Airport Rd, Arden, NC. TBC also welcomes businesses and organizations to host a blood drive. To sponsor a blood drive, call 864-751-3019.
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