Blood Assurance is experiencing a critical need for O negative blood types. This blood type is especially in need because it can be transfused to patients of any blood type.
Donors must be at least 17 years old and weigh at least 110 pounds. The donation process takes about 30 to 40 minutes and whole blood donors can give every eight weeks, saving up to three lives with each donation.
Every time Erlanger Hospital’s Life Force takes off there are always four units of O negative blood aboard. Sometimes the blood is needed on the flight and sometimes it is not. However, it is a life and death situation when it is not available.
“On a flight basis, we use it about 20 percent of the time,” said Stan Grodrian Erlanger Hospital Air Medical Crew Manager. “But when we need it and we don’t have it people die.”
When the blood is not used on the Life Force it is sent back to the hospital’s blood bank and given to patients that are already in the hospital.
Erlanger is just one of 37 hospitals that rely on life-saving blood products from the regional blood center. Blood Assurance has 11 locations in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. For more information, please contact Blood Assurance at (800) 962-0628 or visit www.bloodassurance.org.