County’s Blood Bank Seeks Additional Donors

The blood bank supplying all nine Ventura County hospitals issued a public plea Monday for more donors, saying that declining donations during the holidays have forced it to import blood from other states.

United Blood Services, the second-largest blood bank in the country, is asking more residents to give blood this season because many regular donors have been hit hard by flu or have traveled out of the county this Christmas.

So far, the county’s United Blood Services branch has been able to supply hospitals by tapping its counterparts in places like Billings, Mont., or Fargo, N.D.

But Christmas is always a hard time for blood banks, and with large, cold-weather metropolitan areas like Chicago especially feeling the flu crunch this year, the blood center is hoping to begin meeting its Ventura County demand without outside assistance.

“This year, we’ve been hit extra hard because of sick donors,” who are not allowed to give blood, said Patty Hunt, United Blood Services’ local director of community relations and blood recruitment. While no surgeries have yet been canceled, “it’s starting to get a little scary,” she said.

Hoping to help, Columbia Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks will host a blood drive today from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Community Memorial [who Hospital in Ventura is planning a similar event in coming weeks, Hunt said.

“This is something that happens every year at this time,” said Bill Nolan, associate administrator at Los Robles. “There’s always a shortage, but having no unforeseen calamities, we have enough to schedule all our patients.”

In addition to regaining self-sufficiency, United Blood Services would like to restore its supply for emergencies. The group’s county inventory is down 125 units of red blood cells from the usual 290 units.

Donors must be in good health and weigh more than 110 pounds. Anyone who recently traveled in a country with a high malaria rate, or who has a cancer history, may not donate.

Also ineligible are those who recently took antibiotics and certain other medications, and those who recently underwent tattooing or body piercing.

United Blood Centers has donor sites in Ventura, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.

Those interested in attending today’s blood drive at Los Robles Hospital should first make an appointment. For more information on hours and locations to donate blood, call 654-8104 or (800) 715-3699.