O My...Blood Banks Are Strapped For Specific Type Of Blood

KLCC | By Brian Bull

Published January 21, 2021 at 3:48 PM PST

If your blood type is “O”, then a regional blood bank wants YOU.

Mark Smith is a business development representative with Bloodworks Northwest. He says they generally need about a thousand units of blood a day to keep hospitals stocked.

“Currently right now, we are experiencing an urgent need for O type of blood. So that would be O negative or O positive. That blood type represents about 43 percent of all blood types. So it’s a large chunk of blood percentage wise, that is needed.”

Smith says Type O donors can go to the Bloodworks Northwest website to find their nearest blood drive and schedule an appointment. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, walk-ins aren’t allowed, currently.

Appointments can be made here: www.bloodworksnw.org/

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Brian Bull

Brian Bull is a contributing freelance reporter with the KLCC News department, who first began working with the station in 2016. He's a senior reporter with the Native American media organization Buffalo's Fire, and was recently a journalism professor at the University of Oregon.

In his nearly 30 years working as a public media journalist, Bull has worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional), the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.

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