Special Donations

1 in 365 African American newborns has sickle cell disease, and 1 in 13 are born with sickle cell trait. Multiple blood transfusions can be the only relief from frequent episodes of pain and complications, but only certain blood donors can give blood to patients with sickle cell disease. Click below to find out whether you may be the right donor to help sickle cell patients. 

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Sickle Cell Donor Program

Hereditary Hemochromatosis (HH) is a genetic condition that may result in the body absorbing too much iron from food. To prevent complications, these patients often benefit from regular blood donation. For physicians needing to request therapeutic blood collections for their HH patients, please complete the downloadable form, attach evidence of genetic testing, and fax the documents to Nebraska Community Blood Bank using the fax number provided on the order form.

Therapeutic phlebotomy physicians order form

A directed donation is a blood donation for a specific recipient collected in advance of an intended transfusion. Innovative Blood Resources (Memorial Blood Centers and Nebraska Community Blood Bank) provides this service for our client hospitals in rare situations for patients with a medically justifiable need. This may mean they require highly specific or matched blood attributes that are exceedingly rare or can’t be found in the standard blood bank inventory. 

1. Directed blood donations are indicated when a safe, compatible unit is not easily identified in the general donor population.  Examples include:

• Patient is alloimmunized against high frequency antigens
• Patient is at high risk of alloimmunization due to a rare blood abnormality (e.g. Bombay phenotype, MacLeod’s syndrome).
• Patient has a rare blood type which is difficult to match.
• Patient has IgA deficiency with antibodies against IgA.

2. Directed donations are not indicated for religious beliefs or concerns regarding the race, vaccination status, or ethnicity of donors.

In order to request a directed donation, a physician must initiate the order for their patient and sign it after the relevant sections are completed. Then, the hospital transfusion service medical director or designee must approve the request, and finally the form is sent to our Blood Center for determination of appropriateness before collections can be scheduled.

Directed donation physician order form

The U.S. blood supply is among the safest in the world, and each unit of donated blood undergoes more than a dozen tests. As previously stated, blood cannot be directed to a particular recipient without a medically justifiable need and extensive testing, documentation, and approval.

ABC Directed Donation Blood Bulletin

ABC COVID Vaccines and Blood Donation FAQ

AABB Vaccination and Blood Donation