U-Donors and LifePoints Benefits

Type O negative blood donors and type AB plasma donors provide the universal blood types most often used in emergency situations. When an emergency happens somewhere in the Ozarks and someone’s life depends on an immediate transfusion, these are the types that physicians will request until the patient’s actual blood type is determined. At Community Blood Center of the Ozarks, we call these special donors U-Donors, short for Universal Donors.

Your blood types are not common – consider this:

• Less than 8% of the population has O-negative blood, yet more than 13% of all blood transfused in our community requires it.
• Less than 5% of the population has AB blood, yet more than 15% of all plasma transfused in our community requires it.
• The result is chronic, and often severe shortages of the universal blood and plasma types.

Interestingly, type U-donor patients can only receive blood or plasma from other U-donors. As a U-Donor, you have a very special calling indeed. In order to encourage frequent blood donations, we offer U-Donors some U-nique LifePoints advantages:

• All current CBCO type O negative and AB donors will automatically begin accumulating LifePoints.
• During the 12-month period from July 1st thru June 30th each year, U-Donors will receive progressively higher points for each donation (whole blood or apheresis with red blood cells for O-negative donors or any apheresis plasma procedure for AB donors):

• Type O-negative U-donors will also receive progressively higher points for each double red cell donation:
  • 1st Donation: 2,000 points
  • 2nd Donation: 5,000 points
  • 3rd Donation: 10,000 points

To find out more about your LifePoints status and eligibility for great gifts, please log-in to our donor portal or create an account now.