Blood banks store blood and blood products for use in surgeries, transfusions, and treating diseases. The first US blood bank opened in 1936, and now many public and private organizations have their own. Blood types O and A are the most common, and the American Red Cross is a well-known outlet for blood donation. National disasters often bring out new donors.
The blood bank has revolutionized medicine as we know it and has saved countless lives around the world. A blood bank is a place specifically designed for the storage of blood and blood products. Large coolers keep these products at a constant temperature and are available at any time. This facility stores whole blood, packed red blood cells, plasma, and other blood products. These products are used for trauma patients, surgeries, blood transfusions treating disease, and a host of other applications.
The first blood bank in the United States opened in 1936 at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. In the beginning, they were mostly located in hospitals, because they were the only facilities equipped to store large quantities of blood at the time. Later, Dr. Charles Drew, a pioneer in the science of blood transfusion, helped establish the first blood bank of the American Red Cross. Subsequently, both public and private organizations began setting up blood banks of their own and could soon be found nationwide.
One blood bank will generally cooperate with another in getting blood products to where they are needed most. In the days before medical flights were common, highway patrol officers sometimes found themselves involved in transporting blood. For example, a kind of “relay” could be set up between two cities, with one soldier collecting blood and meeting another soldier halfway through, who then carries the blood to the hospital or to another soldier waiting for the ‘down’. the hands.” With many more cities supporting these facilities and the advent of helicopters, this has become less common.
Most humans belong to the ABO blood group. Blood type is determined by what antibodies and antigens a person’s blood produces. The most common blood type is O, followed by type A. Type O individuals are often called “universal donors” because their blood can be transfused into people of any blood type. Those with blood type AB are called “universal recipients” because they can receive blood of any type.
Since types O and A are the most common, the need for these types is often the greatest. Those with the rarer type B may donate more often because they understand the need for the less common types. However, since about twice as many people in the general population have O and A blood types, the need for this blood type increases exponentially.
The American Red Cross is probably the most familiar outlet for blood, and most Americans have heard blood donor calls surge during the summer or holidays, the times when the need for blood is most critical. Most healthy people can give blood, and national disasters often bring out those who have never donated before. After the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, Americans came out in their thousands to give blood. While it wasn’t needed by most of the New York victims, blood was used across the nation to save lives.
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