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• Education, Outreach and Recruitment• Inventory Management Initiatives and Testing• Clinical Data Collection and Community Research• Fund Raising

The goal of the PreciseMatch Program is to ensure that everyone in our diverse community has access to the most precisely matched blood products whenever patients might need them.

• Education, Outreach and Recruitment

What is the program?

For 95% of patient transfusions,

this level of matching blood is sufficient(This is referred to as “ABO” and “Rh” blood type)

For blood transfusions, patients are always matched with donor blood based on their major blood groups such as:

O+ O- A+ A- B+ B- AB+ AB-

Any of these donors could

provide compatible blood

to each other

O+O+

O+

5%

• For an estimated 5% of patients, we need to find blood that is even more precisely matched

• Incompatible blood can cause life threatening transfusion reactions

• NYBC tests for the absence of antigens (often referred to as screening or testing for rare blood)

• More blood donations from our diverse community are needed to maintain the proper inventory for these patients

5%

Hy- Hy-

Medical professionals identify and label these unique combinations of antigens (or lack of antigens) using many combinations of letters such as:

Js(b-) Hy- Di(b-)Vel- Jk(a-b-) Co(a-)

How is blood identified?

What is an antigen?

• A type of protein found on the outer surface of the red blood cell

• Patients receiving blood with the same antigen match “welcome” that blood

• Patients receiving blood with different antigens do not welcome the blood and may form antibodies against that blood and may reject that blood

Why is my blood unique?

• Your blood type and antigens are inherited from your parents, just like you hair and eye color (it is part of your DNA and unique genes)

What is rare blood?

● A small number of people have unusual red blood cell antigens making their blood more uncommon, or rare

● Your rare blood is also inherited and exists in every ethnic group

Who might need rare blood?

• Frequently transfused patients can form antibodies (immune responses) to some red cell antigens

• Once antibodies have formed these patients require more precisely matched blood to prevent transfusion reactions and the production of more antibodies

Conditions that require blood?● Sickle Cell Anemia● Thalassemia (or Cooley’s Anemia)● Leukemia● Pregnancy● Chemotherapy Treatment

How many requests does NYBC receive?

• The Immunohematology Laboratory of New York Blood Center fills approximately 800 requests for hospital patients providing over 1,800 units annually

• There are also requests that unfortunately, we cannot fill

An estimated 5% of transfusions

require PreciseMatch blood

How we find blood

Currently we test 600 donors per week to determine if they are PreciseMatch donors

Increasing the number of donors tested

would more fully support patients

• Prompts the testing of blood samples and enables us to identify more precise matches

• Certain blood types are more common in different ethnic groups

• More donors from diverse ethnic backgrounds are needed to better serve all patients in our culturally diverse city

Checking the Box on the blood donor registration form is important

April 2005 – March 2006

Geographic areas served by New York Blood Center

The blood we distribute does not always equal the blood we collect.We need more community blood donors.

In Northern Manhattan, NYBC distributes blood to• New York Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia• Harlem Hospital Center• North General Hospital• Metropolitan Hospital Center

24,439 4,281 20,158DISTRIBUTION COLLECTIONS SHORTFALL

Schedule your donationCall 1.800.933.Blood

PreciseMatch Program InformationCall 212.570.3457

or visitwww.nybloodcenter.org

Donate blood now. People can’t live without it.