


This is important in emergencies when hospitals don’t have time to determine the patients blood type. Every 2 seconds, a person in the United States needs blood. Within these groups, there are a further eight blood types. Considered the “Universal Blood Type” meaning is can be transfused to anybody regardless of their blood type. There are four major categories within the ABO group: A, B, O, and AB.People with O- blood can only receive blood from O- blood donors.Only 6.6% of the population has O- blood.

Annually more than 120,000 units of blood, platelets, and plasma are required to meet the needs of the hospitals we serve, and your blood type is critical in saving the lives of patients in your community. Please schedule an appointment to save lives today by calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-80), visiting or by downloading the Red Cross Blood Donor App.As an O Negative donor you are important to maintaining the blood supply in our community. Today you can make a decision that could change someone’s life forever. Right now, the American Red Cross needs all types of blood donations to help end their emergency blood shortage-including AB plasma. This means in times of emergency, when there is no time to type and cross-match blood to determine an emergency patient’s blood type, “universal” AB positive and negative plasma can be used to help save that person’s life. What Is The Universal Donor Blood Type Facts AugUpdated: OctoBy Kevin M What Is Blood Transfusion Making Universal Donor Blood From Other Blood Types Headline Science A blood transfusion is a method of reintroducing blood into the body following an injury or disease. Type AB blood is the universal plasma donor because despite having both the A and B antigens on red cells, neither A nor B antibodies exist in the plasma.” These substances can trigger an immune system to attack transfused blood, so safe blood transfusions depend on careful blood typing and cross-matching. Blood types are determined by the presence or absence of certain antigens (such as A and B) on the surface of red blood cells. For an extra 20 minutes or so, I could make an even greater impact.Īccording to the Red Cross’s website, “There are eight common blood types (A+, A-, B+, B-, O+, O-, AB+, AB-) and many rare ones. Almost immediately after that they sold me on the idea of donating AB Elite plasma to get even more out of my donation. blood donor center spotted my AB blood type. That is until the wonderful and dedicated professionals at the Huntersville, N.C. Getting Even More out of my Blood Donationįor the past 30 years, I’ve donated whole blood to help patients in need. Although I am embarrassed to say that laziness was my original motivation for becoming a blood donor, today I donate blood because it can help save lives. I told my entire platoon, and my platoon sergeant wanted to wring my neck! That day, we all donated blood and got the day off.

I was a 19-year-old Army private when I learned that, per Army regulations, I could get a day off for donating blood.
