CALLS FOR BLOOD

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31255, 30 December 1966, Page 8

CALLS FOR BLOOD

Help From U.S. Navy

An urgent call from the Ashburton Hospital this week for a quantity of one type of blood has resulted in an arrangement whereby the North Canterbury Blood Transfusion Service can call on members of the United States Navy’s Antarctic support force for blood donations.

This means that the American medical officer will, if necessary, co-operate in making men available when calls are made for larger quantities of particular types of blood.

The secretary of the service (Mr A. T. Sindlen) said yesterday that the American base was called when the Ashburton Hospital asked for a quantity of A-negative blood.

At this time of the year, he said, it was not easy to find donors all with blood of this grouping at short notice. The United States Navy was pleased to co-operate, he said, and six donors were readily forthcoming. The medical officer at the base had merely to look through his records to find the men with the groupings required. Mr Sindlen added that similar arrangements already existed with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, the police, and the Army. But in times like the present, the inclusion of the United States Navy force could be most valuable. Donors could be available in half an hour or less.