Blood Bank of Alaska needs your help

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) – If you live in Alaska and have o-negative blood, the Blood Bank of Alaska needs your help.

As the United States continues to see an overall shortage of blood donations, Alaska specifically is low on o-negative blood.

The blood bank said it’s also seeing a need for platelet donors. Platelets are taken out of the blood stream without removing the whole blood. Platelets are used for patients with leukemia and other cancers, transplants, burns, and bleeding disorders.

“Right now, we have a dire need for platelets. There’s a lot of heavy usage going on in the state. Typically, our state’s Trauma Center uses a lot of platelets, but all of the hospitals across the state are using platelets. That’s because Alaskans are out there being active and things happen when folks are active, and there’s a need for that product when they come to the hospital,” said Bob Scanlon, CEO of the Blood Bank of Alaska.

Scanlon also spoke about possible reasons for a shortage of donations. “As you know, July is a busy month for a lot of Alaskans. It’s fishing season, dip-netting is in progress, and folks are not making it into their local blood bank, and of course, this is a heavy use time during the course of the year.

“Folks are out camping, having fun out in the woods, going out on the water, and there are accidents that occur and we need to be able to respond to that when the hospitals give us a call so they have the tools necessary to treat the patients as they’re coming through the door, and that tool is either plasma, platelets, or blood cells,” continued Scanlon.

If you would like to make an appointment to donate blood or platelets, please call the Blood Bank of Alaska Fairbanks at 907-456-5645.

You can also stop by the Fairbanks Blood Center which is located at 3010 Airport Way.

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