SAN ANTONIO – The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center is in urgent need of Type O-negative blood donations for the upcoming Labor Day weekend.
As of Wednesday morning, the facility had only about a couple dozen bags of O-negative blood left to serve all 44 counties through the weekend.
The O-negative blood type is the universal blood type. Anytime there is trauma or an accident and you are rushed to the hospital and are in immediate need of blood, the hospital will give you O-negative.
Roger Ruiz, with the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, said the center depends on regular donations, especially during Labor Day weekend, when there is a greater risk of traffic accidents.
“You never know when tragedy is going to happen, and we service a great area -- 44 counties. So if an accident happens here in San Antonio and another in Laredo, this is all we have left,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz said in order to properly serve all 44 counties, the center needs at least 400 donations a day. Even if your blood type isn’t O-negative, any blood, plasma or platelet donations help.
It only takes 24 hours for a blood donation to be processed, so if you donate in the Thursday or Friday, your blood will be available to emergency patients this weekend.
If you are willing to donate, you can visit any of the six locations across San Antonio and New Braunfels area. To find out those locations and times, visit www.southtexasblood.org.