Facebook is helping connect blood centers and donors
Facebook is teaming up with Vitalant, formerly the Inland Northwest Blood Center, to connect it with potential blood donors in the Northwest.
The feature just went live in Washington, Idaho and several other states and will roll out nationwide in September. People who are interested in becoming blood donors can use Facebook to indicate what their blood type is and whether they are interested in receiving alerts when there is a need for donors.
“Facebook has been prompting people to sign up,” said Tesia Hummer, Vitalant manager of donor recruitment, marketing and communications.
When people visit their profile page, a prompt comes up that reads “Blood banks near you need blood donations.” People can click on a button to learn more and sign up. If a prompt doesn’t appear or has expired, people can visit
Vitalant is the only blood provider for 35 hospitals in North Idaho and Eastern and Central Washington. It needs 200 donors a day to maintain an adequate blood supply, but donations usually drop in the summer because people leave town for vacations, Hummer said. “During the summer months, donations drop dramatically while the need actually increases,” Hummer said.
Facebook first started developing the blood donor feature in Bangladesh, Brazil, India and Pakistan. After it was successful there, it was launched in five major U.S. markets, including New York and Los Angeles, in June.
Hema Budaraju, Facebook’s product director for health, said in a news release that Facebook is proud to partner with Vitalant and other blood centers to help prevent seasonal blood shortages. “We strive to help people better support their communities and collectively improve public health,” Budaraju said.
Hummer said Vitalant isn’t able to see who has signed up for alerts or how many have signed up. The logistics are all handled by Facebook. When Vitalant has a shortage, it can indicate what blood type it needs and where, and Facebook sends out the notifications. “It goes out to people in a 10k radius,” Hummer said. “We just indicate a certain blood type we need.”
Currently Vitalant uses social media to ask for help when blood is needed, but that only reaches people who have liked their Facebook page and are probably already donors, Hummer said. The new Facebook system will broaden the reach. “I think it’s a really important tool for us,” she said. “It really helps us get a more direct reach.”
Hummer hopes that people who respond to a request for help might become regular donors. Many who donate regularly are older and eventually won’t be able to donate anymore, she said. “To keep a stable donor base, we need to replace that with younger donors,” she said.
The most common blood type needed is O negative. “O negative is a universal donation, which means anyone can receive it,” Hummer said. “O negative is what is reached for first in trauma.”
Different types of blood are used to produce different products. O negative is used as whole blood, while A-positive and B-positive blood are often used to create platelets. Platelets are frequently needed by cancer patients and only have a five-day shelf life, Hummer said. Plasma is extracted from AB-type blood.
Hummer said that it doesn’t matter if people don’t know their blood type. When they sign up for alerts on Facebook, they can click a box that indicates they don’t know their blood type. Once a blood donation is processed, the blood type will be determined, and that information is shared with the donor, Hummer said.
Vitalant has a Hero Reward program that gives points when people show up to donate blood. Those points can be redeemed for movie passes, T-shirts and other items. Donors also can enter to win prizes, and coffee and doughnuts are always available for donors.
There are several Vitalant donation centers in Spokane, Spokane Valley and Coeur d’Alene. Visit
People who are on certain medications cannot donate blood, but Hummer said Vitalant encourages people to come in for an evaluation to determine if they can donate.
“If you have blood in your body, we want to see you,” she said. “Give us a call and come on down, and we’ll help determine your eligibility.”