HONOLULU (KHON2) — Blood donors around the islands have been called to help in a critical shortage, specifically those with O-negative and O-positive blood.
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The Blood Bank of Hawaii revealed there is less than a day’s worth of blood remaining due to high hospital demand and a decline in donor turnout.
“O-Blood or O-Red Cells is the universal donor type and that’s because when patients come into the emergency room, if they’re unknown, we don’t know their blood types and so the only blood type that we can give them safely is type-O blood. And that’s why type O is always short,” Kim-Anh Nguyen M.D., President and CEO of Blood Bank of Hawaii explained.
Currently, the BBH is looking to secure 150 to 200 daily appointments to help meet hospital needs.
“We usually need 150-200 donors every day, every single day, what’s amazing to know is of these 150 only 3 out of 100 are going to be type O-negative,” she said.