What’s So Positive About O Negative?
February 4, 2020
Imagine that someone you love is involved in an accident and needs blood as part of his or her recovery. When time is of the essence, how is it determined what type of blood they will receive?
In many cases, this decision is made immediately. While medical staff works to determine the blood type of the person on the receiving end, if the situation dictates that an immediate transfusion is needed, then O negative blood will be transfused until blood type can be confirmed.
When O negative blood is described as the “Universal Donor,” it’s this quality — transferable and accepted by anyone, regardless of blood type — that makes it so vital. It’s also why, when we make an urgent call for O negative blood, we are so grateful to our local O negative donors who rise to the occasion.
At The Community Blood Center, we understand that regular reminders of the importance of O negative blood might sometimes make them easy to ignore. Yet, the numbers are impossible to overlook: only 9% of the population has O negative blood, but it is most important to the health of the blood supply because it is the most frequently used blood type during emergencies.
This presents an obvious challenge to organizations such as ours, but also presents an opportunity for O negative donors to make an outsized difference in the communities they call home. Just imagine — when an O negative donor makes a donation, the blood that they have so generously given is just what first responders reach for when there’s no time to waste.
And that’s something that we hope that all O negative blood donors understand: although your blood’s Rh factor may be negative, the fact that you’ve chosen to give your blood to someone else couldn’t be more positive.
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