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1st appeared 11 September 1998 Bay Area in Midst of Severe Blood Shortage Faced with a serious shortage of type O blood, Bay Area blood banks and hospitals are calling on donors to give blood before the shortage grows critical. The unusually high demand for the common blood type during and following the Labor Day weekend, combined with the drop in donations over the holiday, has led to a shortage so severe that blood banks and hospitals are scrambling to get the blood they need for emergencies and may have to postpone elective surgeries if it gets worse, officials said. On Wednesday (Sept. 9) San Francisco-based Blood Centers of the Pacific, which provides most of the blood for 35 Northern California hospitals, was in such short supply that it had only enough type 0 blood to meet a typical half-day's need. "We're in an increasingly bad situation," said Sandra McIntosh, the Blood Center's communications director. The dangerously low supply of type O blood -- which is the most common blood type, shared by 45 percent of the population -- already is close to taking its toll on Bay Area medical centers, including UCSF, said Pearl Toy, chief of the UCSF Stanford Health Care blood bank and donor center at the UCSF Medical Center. The overall blood supply has diminished since blood bank officials have increased stringent screening for conditions such as hepatitis and HIV. "But it is highly unusual for the supply to drop this low," she said. "This doesn't happen often," Toy said. "The usage over the Labor Day weekend was unusually high and the large amount of blood collected before the weekend was largely used up." However, officials said, the situation can be easily remedied if people donate blood. Donating blood is a simple process that takes about one hour including registration, reviewing donors' medical histories and the actual donation, which takes about eight minutes, McIntosh said. Most donors can return to their daily activities after giving blood, she said. The Blood Centers of the Pacific has donation sites throughout the Bay Area and Northern California. Donors can call the center's toll free number at 888/393-GIVE for locations and times. Donors also can give blood at UCSF's blood donation center, located in the lobby level of the Moffitt Hospital building at UCSF, 505 Parnassus Ave. The center is open from 8 a.m. to 7:45 p.m., Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays. Call 415/476-6989. source: Janet Basu and Diana Marszalek News Services |
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