NEWS RELEASES
9/13/06 News Release
MEDIA CONTACT: Michelle Bussenius at (650) 723-8270 ()
Critical blood shortage: Stanford center urges residents to donate
STANFORD, Calif. — Area blood supplies are critically low, and the Stanford Blood Center is asking potential donors, especially those with type-O blood, to visit their local blood center to donate today.
As a result of this shortage, the seven area hospitals served by the blood center are having difficulty receiving enough blood to meet the needs of their patients. If blood does not become available soon, surgeries may need to be postponed, said Michelle Bussenius, center spokesperson.
“Recently we’ve had several patients, including one needing a liver transplant, who have drawn heavily on our type-O blood supply,” Bussenius said. “We are struggling to rebound from this usage and are asking the community to step forward and donate to help save the lives of others in our area.”
In the Bay Area, only 4 percent of people eligible to donate blood actually do so. To bolster the low supply, blood must be imported from other areas. “Currently, we cannot even find enough blood to import. Instead of importing and facing shortages, we want to be able to rely on our community to provide all the blood needed for patients in the area,” Bussenius said.
The Stanford Blood Center is a nonprofit, community-based blood collection and research center that provides volunteer blood donations to patients in seven area hospitals. It operates three fixed-site donation centers in Palo Alto and Mountain View and has mobile operations throughout the Bay Area.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (650) 723-7831 or visit the center’s Web site at http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu .
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The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation’s top 10 medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://mednews.stanford.edu. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. For information about all three, please visit http://stanfordmedicine.org/about/news.html.
