Red Cross nurses' strike not expected to affect blood supply

San Francisco Chronicle
Red Cross nurses' strike not expected to affect blood supply

Jason B. Johnson, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, November 26, 2006 03 20 PM


(11-26) 15:20 PST OAKLAND -- A strike by a group of Bay Area American Red Cross nurses set to begin Monday will partially close two of the East Bay's four blood centers, but will not hamper the supply of blood to area hospitals, a Red Cross spokeswoman said today.

A dozen nurses and one reference technologist are staging the strike, which could last 10 days, because contract negotiations with the Red Cross have broken off. Blood centers in Oakland and Newark will be closed while sites in Pleasant Hill and Pleasanton will remain open, said Red Cross spokeswoman Sara O'Brien.

"We will be closing two of them during the week because we don't have enough nurses to run the centers," said O'Brien. "The Oakland center will be open tomorrow but it will be closed Tuesday through Friday. Our Newark center is usually closed on Mondays; it will also be closed Tuesday through Friday."

Red Cross personnel have been attempting to contact anyone who has an appointment at the two centers to reschedule or guide them to an alternate facility.

The centers in Newark and Oakland have up to 50 and 75 scheduled donor appointments per day, respectively. The blood service is based in Oakland.

The Red Cross is one of three organizations that provide blood to 32 hospitals in the East Bay and the South Bay and down to Santa Cruz. The other blood banks are run by the Stanford Blood Center and Blood Centers of the Pacific.

"We will continue to supply blood this week throughout the strike from other (parts of the country)," said O'Brien. "No patient is going to go without blood because of the strike."

E-mail Jason B. Johnson at jbjohnson [at] sfchronicle.com