Blood bank falls short of universal blood type O
BRUCE ASATO / FEB. 2016
The Blood Bank of Hawaii building at 2043 Dillingham Blvd. is seen on Feb. 26.
The Hawaii Blood Bank said it has fallen dangerously short of its supply of universal blood type O.
Lower donor turnout typical for summer has been further affected by the move of the blood bank’s main donor location to make way for rail.
When the Dillingham donor center shut down Jan. 4, “we expected a temporary loss for the first six months until we found a new home, and expected a permanent loss as well that we would have to recover by gaining new donors,” said Maura Dolormente, Hawaii Blood Bank director of marketing.
A lot of regular donors who went to the Dillingham location, haven’t donated since the closure, she said.
The nearest location to the old Dillingham location is the Oahu Veterans Center, 1298 Kukila St. The new primary donation center is at 1907 Young St., near Times Super Market between McCully and Artesian streets.
To find locations and times for mobile drives and virtual donor centers, call 848-4770 or go to bbh.org
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7 responses to “Blood bank falls short of universal blood type O”
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The ‘international giver’ blood type; essential to many surgeries and life saving procedures.
I would always donate as I have that blood type but it was hard because they require high iron levels and half the time I was turned away because i didn’t quite make the level. Hope they find more donors.
BBH should have not closed the Dillingham Donor Center, they said it was due to the rail project. Anyone can see the rail was not even close to being on schedule and anywhere near the Dillingham area. It will be another 4-5 years if they even get near the Dillingham BBH. As a Super Donor that lives on the West side and works near Dillingham I used to donate every 8 weeks. The last time I donated was in March when they setup the Bloodmobiles at Dillingham, I will not go to Young St. and the alternate locations.
Sunny,
Those are my reasons too. I gave regularly at Dillingham. Did not care for the tight spaced bloodmobile. I’m not going to deal with traffic in Makiki.
Location is not the issue. When they stopped having real nurses draw your blood donation, and started hiring minimum wage ‘techs’ that they train on the job, and after experiencing too many hematomas, that is when, after many gallons, I had to say aloha. When they announce they bring back real professionals, to protect their donors, that’s when I’ll reconsider.
https://www.google.com/search?q=blood+bank+nerve+damage
To me location is the issue. Kaneohe bloodmobile crowded or not often enough to fit my schedule.
I did not care for the turnover of staff too, it was comforting after many years of donating to see familiar faces. For the past 4 years every time I donated, a new person did the interview, I knew more about the process. The new phlebotomists were not the best but it didn’t stop me from donating. BBH made a lot of changes in staff and did away with the Super Donor pictures but that didn’t stop me from donating, closing Dillingham did!