County Hospitals Run Critically Low on Type O Blood

Hospitals and trauma centers in Orange County reported severe shortages Tuesday of Type O blood and said that they may have to restrict supplies to use in emergencies only.

“If the situation does not change in three to five days, we may have to limit (Type O blood) to emergencies,” said Don Kaczmarek, a lab technician at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, a major center for trauma cases in Orange County.

Type O blood is the most common type of blood and the most in demand for surgeries, officials said.

UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange had only five units of Type O blood for general use Tuesday morning, said Dr. Jose Ocariz, medical director for blood supply. Ideally the hospital should have 40 units of Type O blood for general surgery, he said. The hospital keeps 22 units of Type O blood for trauma surgeries.

Ocariz called the Type O shortage the worst he has seen in five years. He also said there was a possibility that the hospital would have to cancel elective surgeries.

The Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross, which supplies blood to virtually all of the 38 hospitals in the county, is appealing for more blood donors, particularly Latinos, who as a group have a higher percentage of Type O blood than non-Latinos, said Sylvia Fanton, a Red Cross spokeswoman in Santa Ana.

“We desperately need more donors,” Fanton said. She added that Orange County hospitals have about 40% of the normal Type O supply.

The Red Cross Center in Santa Ana, which is the main distributing center for Orange County hospitals, had no Type O blood Tuesday morning after distribution, Fanton said.

Some hospital officials said they would have been forced to cancel some elective surgeries this week because of the shortage, but patients were able to receive blood from relatives.

“Most hospitals have that option,” said St. Joseph Hospital spokesman Dennis Gaschen.

In Orange County, as in Los Angeles, supplies of Type O blood are low despite special blood drives during the holiday season, said Ralph Wright, a Red Cross spokesman in Los Angeles.

“There has been a shift down of supplies the last three weeks,” Wright said. “Eighty percent of our collections take place at bloodmobiles near businesses. When they close down and employees go home, there is no one in sight.”

Wright said the low supply of Type O blood is partly due to the Red Cross’ new screening tests for hepatitis.

The Red Cross recently added two surrogate tests to screen out two types of hepatitis. However, the tests are not always accurate and as much as 70% of the blood that tests positive for hepatitis may actually be free from the disease, Wright said. As a result, the Red Cross supply of usable blood has dropped by 5%.

People wishing to donate blood can call (714) 835-5381 in Orange County and (213) 739-4545 in Los Angeles County.