Red Cross Removes Three-Day Regional Blood Supply in Southern California
About 3,500 pints of blood have been removed from circulation in Orange County after a refrigerator malfunctioned and over-cooled the blood, American Red Cross officials announced on Friday, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9/20). The blood supply, which could supply regional hospitals for three days, was stored for six hours on Friday several degrees below the recommended range (California Healthline, 9/16). Officials say that they believe they will be able to meet all immediate requests for blood in Southern California but are still asking for new donors in case of an emergency. Although the blood will not be available for use in patients, some blood will be used for research, San Diego Red Cross spokesperson Steve Whitburn said (San Diego Union-Tribune, 9/20). In addition, plasma and platelets from the units of blood were not affected by the refrigeration problem because those were stored separately (California Healthline, 9/16).
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