Blood bank issues urgent appeal for platelet and blood donors

The Blood Bank of Delmarva has issued an urgent appeal for the community to donate blood and platelets to help patients in need.

It takes more than 350 donors per day to supply the 19 hospitals throughout the Delmarva Peninsula with the blood products they need.

Blood donations are below what is needed to maintain an ideal, seven-day supply of blood. Currently, supplies for O positive and O negative red blood cells and platelets are at about a two-day level.

People with O positive blood are in demand because they have the most common blood type in America (39 percent of the population). O negative red blood cells are always in demand because these are the universal donor that can be transfused to anyone in an emergency, when there is no time to type a patient’s blood. O negative is more rare (7 percent).

Platelets are the part of blood responsible for clotting and are crucial for leukemia and other cancer patients. They have a very short shelf life – only five days – because they cannot be refrigerated. Donors are needed daily.

Given the perishable nature of all blood products, hospitals must have access to a continuous supply to ensure all patients can receive the lifesaving blood they need when it counts.

BBD is urging donors to walk in to any center. To make an appointment, call 1-888-8-BLOOD-8 or go to www.donate.bbd.org.