halcyondays - 12-1-2010 at 05:26 PM
My wife and I are going to be spending more time in Baja in the coming winters.
It has come to our attention that she has O negative blood and this may be an issue if we encounter a bad situation in Baja and she needs a
transfusion.
I then realized that there are others out there with this same situation as 5% of all people have type O.
So there are a few out there----who need to be networked.
Does anyone know of a network of O negative donors in the Cabo and Todos area?
I think it may be important to have a health related section on this forum strictly for type 0 Negative needs in specific areas.
O negative folks in La Paz.
O negative folks in Ensenada.
O negative folks in Cabo.
??
Anyone with type O negative blood can ONLY use type O negative blood when they need a transfusion.
Other blood types will kill the person.
For this reason many people, including my wife, face uncertainty when in need of blood.
In addition---type O negative is the only blood they give to preemie babies in need.
Any info on this subject-----anyone?
Thanks!!
Mulegena - 12-1-2010 at 08:42 PM
Thank you for raising this important topic.
Can your wife donate her own blood periodically as allowed? It would probably become "public" so to speak, but it would increase the chances of being
available if she were to need.
A friend, who coincidentally was O negative and lives in Baja Sur, did donate once in La Paz. She had to out-front lie about her age as there was a
restriction of maximum 55 years for donors, as I recall. When she is stateside she regularly donates.
I believe the blood banks in Baja cooperate and share. When my friend donated, she was informed that there was only one unit of type O-Negative in all
of Baja at that particular time.
halcyondays - 12-1-2010 at 09:30 PM
Wow...Yes this is exactly why the topic is so important.
The life of Type O negative blood is only good for two weeks when it is held in a blood bank.
The only real security is a network of people who have eachother's phone numbers and email addresses so that they can CALL or CONTACT if there is an
issue.
If my wife gets hurt in a car accident I would want to be able to get online and have a list of 10 to 50 people to call and ask to come to the
hospital to help.
Conversely, those O negative people would have my wife to call if they need her blood.
Maybe it is possible to set up a network on this site?
Seems a very good place for it.
There are obviously a lot of baja nomads on this site who are willing to help each other out.
Maybe the moderator could help me out on this?
[Edited on 12-2-2010 by halcyondays]
[Edited on 12-2-2010 by halcyondays]
Ensenada
bajaguy - 12-1-2010 at 09:34 PM
For Ensenada, you might want to try this:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/puntabandanewsletter/
YARDSAIL - 12-1-2010 at 09:38 PM
I have 0- and give whenever asked, or hear of a need...The only problem is I'm turning 65...they will not take/ use blood from us old farts.... It is
the rule in Mexico