It’s National Blood Donor Day and it’s a time to highlight how donated blood is used and the blood supplies that are needed.
Greene County Medical Center Chief Nurse Executive Katie Heldt says they use donated blood in the emergency room and surgery departments, along with treating chronic diseases and cancer. She points out that donated blood is used in a variety of ways. For example, packed red blood cells are used to treat enema or for surgery patients and they also use the platelet component of blood to clot someone’s blood.
There are several different blood types and Heldt notes that the universal donor blood type is O-.
“Someone comes in, and they’re injured, and they need blood immediately, and we don’t have time to run the test that screens to make their blood type specific. So that person can safely receive O- blood. So that’s why it’s important that hospitals have O- blood on hand at all times.”
She adds that the medical center contracts with LifeServe Blood Center of Iowa to have them bring any blood type they might need. LifeServe Public Relations and Marketing Manager Danielle West says the rarest blood type is AB-, which is about one-percent of the population and the most common are O+ and A+. She explains, while O- is the universal donor blood type, they only have a short supply, much like all other blood types.
“So for all of our blood types we like to have a 4 or 5 day supply on hand. And I would say for the majority of our blood types right now, we’re at a 1 or 2 day supply. That O- we’re always hovering around the 1-2 day, since it is used most often. We’re always kind of begging those O donors to come out if they can.”
Heldt adds that blood donations do make a difference. She says in the 2018 fiscal year, 299 pints of blood were donated at the local monthly blood drives, which saved an estimated 897 lives. Across the country, Heldt says about 4.5 million lives were saved through blood transfusions in the 2018 fiscal year.
The next Jefferson Blood Drive will be held July 9th from 12:30-5:30pm at Trinity Lutheran Church. To schedule an appointment, call 1-800-287-4903.