Blood Fact Sheet

Your physician has recommended you be treated using blood, or blood components. You may have questions about this.

What Kinds Of Blood Products Are There?

Blood products include Red Blood Cells, Platelets, Plasma, Clotting Factors, and Albumin. Each is used for treatment in different circumstances.

What Are The Benefits Of Having A Blood Transfusion?

• Increasing the ability of your blood to supply oxygen to your vital organs.
• Decreasing the risk of complications during and after surgery, and improving wound healing.
• Decrease the risk of, or help treat bleeding problems.
• Saving your life.

Where Does The Blood/Blood Products Come From?

The blood comes from healthy people, who voluntarily donate their blood, for the benefit of others, and is collected and distributed by the Canadian Blood Services (CBS).

What Are The Risks Associated With Having A Blood Transfusion?

The CBS screens their blood donor carefully, and 

test

 all blood donations for viruses, including Hepatitis B and C, HIV 1 & 2, Human T-cell lymphotrophic virus 1 & 2 (HTLV-1&2), West Nile Virus and Syphilis. The CBS states that Canada’s blood supply is as safe as any other blood supply in the world, however blood will never be completely without risk, as any human tissue can transmit viral, or bacterial agents. Also everyone’s individual immune system reacts to blood in a different way. The CBS and the hospital Blood Bank makes great effort to minimize any risks. The risk to your health of not having a transfusion that your doctor feels is necessary, is greater.

What Are The Risks Of Not Having A Blood Transfusion?

The risks of not having a transfusion that your doctors feels is necessary depend on your individual state of health. Some of the risks include:

• Anemia and insufficient oxygen delivery to your vital organs, like the heart and brain
• Stroke
• Heart attack
• Low blood pressure (shock)
• Bleeding during or after surgery
• Delayed wound healing

Why Do I Have To Give Consent To Have A Blood Transfusion?

Consent acknowledges that you have discussed the risks and benefits of a blood transfusion with your doctor. It is protection for you as a patient, ensuring that you are satisfactorily informed. It becomes part of your hospital record.

Do I Have Other Options?

You may be able to donate your own blood before an elective surgery, if it is deemed likely that a blood transfusion may be required. (Autologous Donation). Discuss this with your Physician.

Fact Sheet

Mission:

Partnering with our community to save and enhance lives through transfusion medicineexcellence.

 

• For more than 70 years Bonfils Blood Center has supported the community blood supply and has played an instrumental role in the lives of patients in need throughout Colorado and beyond.
• In 1989 Bonfils established the Colorado Marrow Donor Program (CMDP) - the local hub for the National Marrow Donor Registry, which to date, has added more than 89,000 donors to the national registry and is a leader in coordinating donor matches for patients in need.
• Bonfils Blood Center needs thousands of people to donate blood each week to meet the needs of Colorado's patients and to maintain a state of blood supply readiness to support any unforeseen events.
• Bonfils provides blood and blood products to nearly 200 hospitals and healthcare facilities across Colorado and beyond.
• Blood donation is one of the easiest ways to volunteer, with each whole blood donation lasting about an hour.
• Every two seconds, someone in the United States receives a transfusion of donated blood.
• A+ and O+ are the most common blood types with 31.5% and 39.8% respectively of 
  the U.S. population having those types.
• The O- blood type is the universal donor and is constantly needed by physicians. It can be transfused to 100% of patients regardless of their blood type, but only 6.9% of the population is O-. 
• Platelets are routinely needed for a variety of treatments and have a shelf life of only five days compared to whole blood, which is usable for 42 days. A+ donors can be excellent candidates for platelet donations. 
• Plasma contains important proteins and nutrients which help treat severe burns, traumas, blood clotting disorders, organ transplants and premature infants.
• Red blood cells carry oxygen to all parts of the body and are needed most after significant blood loss through trauma, for patients undergoing surgery or experiencing anemia.
• Your blood type and donation type play a key role in Bonfils’ ability to manage the community blood supply to ensure we have the right combination of platelet, plasma and red blood cell units on the shelf to meet patients’ transfusion needs. 
• By optimizing your donation type and frequency you will help us maintain a readily available blood supply for the Colorado community and the one in seven patients entering a hospital who will need a blood  transfusion.
• Currently, four percent of Colorado's population generously donates blood.
• Donating blood is safe. Sterile, disposable needles and supplies are used once and are safely discarded after each donation.
• Healthy people are the only source of blood. It can not be made synthetically.