Blood shortage prompts call for donors

Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2000 | 12:49 p.m.

"The blood emergency is nationwide and in Nevada," said Alana Ladd-Ross, community relations director for United Blood Services. Las Vegas and Arizona blood banks declared regional emergencies last week.

"We have to meet our own needs because we probably can't borrow from other regions," she said. "They're in the same situation we are."

There is enough blood in area hospitals but the agency shelves are low.

"If we can't get people into the center, we will have to cancel all but emergency operations," Ladd-Ross said.

That measure has never been necessary in northern Nevada, she said.

There are critical needs for O negative and O positive blood, but every type is needed. People with O negative blood, about 6 percent of the population, are called "universal donors" because their blood can be used by everyone.

At a blood drive on Wednesday at the Atlantis Hotel Casino in Reno, a booth will be set up especially for universal donors. They also can be tested for the ability to give blood to babies.

The drop in blood supplies stems not only from increased need and a decrease in donations over the holidays but also from a weeklong computer shutdown at Thanksgiving to install a Y2K-compatible system.

"We never caught up," Ladd-Ross said.

The northern Nevada branch of United Blood Services is the only supplier of blood for 30 hospitals and health-care facilities in northern Nevada and the eastern Sierra. Its 122,000-square-mile territory stretches from Wendover to Chester, Calif. and from Susanville, Calif., to Mammoth, Calif.