Houchin’s Oswell St. blood donation center celebrates a year in East Bakersfield

Houchin Community Blood Bank is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its Oswell donor center.

Houchin says that before opening the center, located at 2671 Oswell Street in the East Hills Village Shopping Center, their east-side donors had been telling them that they would like to donate more frequently, but couldn’t due to the crosstown commute between their homes and the Bolthouse or Truxtun locations.

Through the commitment of those donors, in its year of operation, the Oswell center has collected 2,945 pints of blood, saving an estimated 8,835 Kern County lives.

Amidst the ongoing national blood shortage, for people who rely on blood donations both for emergency transfusions and routine medical treatments, Kern County is an especially important location. According to the Red Cross, the proportion of Black and Latino people who have Type O blood, the most requested blood type by hospitals, is 5 to 10 percent higher than in the general population, making donors of color especially valuable to the community.

Additionally, blood donations made in Kern County stay in Kern County. Your donation today could be saving your neighbor’s life tomorrow.

To learn more about blood donation in Kern County, or to schedule an appointment at Houchin’s Bolthouse, Truxtun, or Oswell centers, please visit the donor centers page at the HBCC website. Appointments are encouraged, but walk-ins are welcome.

Blood donors must be in good health, weigh at least 110 pounds, and be at least 17 years old or 16 years old with a parent or guardian’s consent. Donors will need to show a photo ID with their date of birth listed.