Community Blood Services Needs
Type O CMV Negative Donors
To Treat Seriously Ill Babies

February 2011

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Community Blood Services urgently needs Type O CMV negative blood donors to regularly donate and help save the lives of newborns and babies in need at the community hospitals it serves.

"CMV negative donors are special. If they donate regularly they can make a real difference in the lives of seriously ill babies and their families," said Patrice Foresman, director of recruitment at Community Blood Services, which supplies blood to more than 30 hospitals in New Jersey and New York and has donation centers in both states.

"More than 60 donors are needed every week to treat babies who need transfusions," she said. "You can make a difference when you join the "O Team" at Community Blood Services and commit to donating blood at least four times a year."

Type O donors can click here or call toll free 866-228-1500 to schedule an appointment or click here for convenient locations and hours. CMV negative donors who join The O Team will receive a special thank you gift in appreciation of their lifesaving donations.

CMV, or cytomegalovirus, is a common virus found in the environment that is not generally a serious infection except for patients like newborn babies, Foresman explained.

Type O is the most needed blood type, she added, because it can be transfused to patients with other blood types who need emergency blood transfusions and whose blood types are unknown.

Foresman noted that while Type O blood is in very high demand, O negative donors make up only about 8 percent of the population. By becoming regular donors, she said, Type O donors can save the lives of not just babies, but trauma victims and hospital patients with rare blood antibodies who are in need of blood transfusions.

" O donors also can help save the lives of multiple patients by making an automated double red blood cell donation, which yields twice the number of red blood cells," Foresman said.

Donors, who must be 17-75 years old (16 years old with parental permission) and weigh at least 110 pounds, also receive complimentary non-fasting cholesterol and glucose screenings at the time of their donations.