Blood Often a Forgotten Gift Over Holidays : Red Cross Wants More Like Cynthia DuBois

Cynthia DuBois of Anaheim donated blood for the 39th time Tuesday. She does it for several reasons.

“Last year I did it for somebody who was dying,” she said. This year, it was for a more common reason.

“It doesn’t cost anything,” she said. “What if I were in a position where I needed to get blood someday?”

The Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross has yet another reason for people to give blood this month. Supplies are down once again during the Christmas holidays.

“It is a recurring problem that as the holiday season approaches, donations drop off. It is the hectic pace of the holidays that lead to a shortage,” said Sylvia Fanton, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross in Santa Ana.

Short of Blood Types

The supply of O-negative, the universal blood type, is down 50% from normal, Fanton said. Type O blood frequently is used for emergency operations such as traumatic surgeries. “Anyone can receive O-negative,” Fanton said. Supplies of O-positive blood, the most common blood type, are down 40%, she said.

The Red Cross anticipates the shortage each year by setting up a special holiday blood drive called “Save-a-Life Season,” which continues through Jan. 9 this year, she said.

The Red Cross has also designated this Sunday as “Save-a-Life Sunday” in Orange County. The three Red Cross centers in Anaheim, Santa Ana and Huntington Beach will be open, and several mobile units will travel to various parts of the county, Fanton said.

The one-day drive comes during the middle of the Christmas season when it is the most crucial, she said.

Donations tend to drop off between Dec. 24 and Jan. 5, Fanton said. But demand for blood is high in January because people tend to have the elective surgery that they postponed during the holidays.

Needed Year-Round

Fanton emphasized, however, that blood is needed year-round because blood can be stored for only 42 days. Platelets, a component in the regular treatment of leukemia, are good only for three days after the blood is drawn, she said.

Fanton said the Red Cross has the responsibility for supplying blood to virtually all of the 38 hospitals in the county.

Fanton said the fear of AIDS has not been a major factor in the latest shortage because people are better educated about the subject.

“We’re overcoming that myth. There is no way you can get AIDS from donating blood,” she said.

Oliver Koster, 43, of Orange, who gave blood for the 15th time this week, said that those who think they can contract AIDS by giving blood are in a “minority” now.

Koster, who is unemployed, was among the hundreds of people who responded to the Red Cross appeal. It was, he said, “something I can do to help people.”

Merlin Eelkema, 35, an attorney, left his office during lunch Tuesday to donate blood at the American Red Cross in Santa Ana for a friend who has cancer.

Greg Picard, 23, of Garden Grove, said he received a call from the Red Cross Monday and went in to donate blood for the ninth time in his life.

Anyone between the ages of 17 and 65 who is in generally good health and weighs at least 110 pounds may donate blood. For more information, call (714) 835-5381.