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November 6, 2009

LifeShare relieved of “stand-by” status from Fort Hood shootings



By Darragh Doiron

The News staff writer

Southeast blood donors flooded LifeShare Blood Center with offerings to relieve the call for blood after Thursday’s mass shootings at Ford Hood, but the center was taken off its stand-by notice.

Jamie Lombardo, donor resources coordinator, said she believes donors in the Ford Hood area promptly reacted just as they would have here.

“I think they were inundated with donors yesterday. Any time we see something like this happen, the donors are going to come out in full force,” she said. “In situations like this, it just reminds us that tragedies can occur any day, anywhere, and we just want to encourage the public, those that are willing, to give on a regular basis.

She reminded that victims received blood that had been drawn before the tragedy, so it’s vital that a supply remains at the ready.

“At this time, all of the patient needs from that area have been met. However, if a need were to arise outside of that service area, we would be willing to help out in whatever manner they would need us to,” Lombardo said.

The center fielded calls from the public after the shootings.

“They just wanted to know if we were supplying blood to that area and wanted to know in what ways we were helping. We were on standby, if additional help was needed,” she said.

Taking care of area patients is LifeShare’s prime concern, and the local supply is currently “okay,” she said, but there would not have been enough O negative blood to send to Fort Hood victims.

O negative is a universal blood and the kind needed in trauma type situations where there’s little time to cross check blood types, Lombardo said. Only 7 percent of the population have it.

“That blood is always needed. We did not have enough units to send. We try to maintain a six-day supply of O negative,” Lombardo said.

While LifeShare would like to keep 53 units of O negative for its 8-county region, there are currently just 20 on the shelves now, she said.

For donor information, call 838-5289,

ddoiron@panews.com



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