Back from Freedom April 13- blood wanted message?

Did anyone else on the cruise hear the O negative blood wanted immediately message early this morning? Any idea what happened?

We were wondering the same thing?

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Did you give blood?

Wow....wonder what happened?

I am embarrassed to say I do not know my blood type. I am going to find out now. I don't know my husbands or daughters either. Isn't that terrible.

In 24 years of cruising we've heard a lot of distress calls but never for blood.

Giving this some thought, neither of us know our blood types!! :eek:

Hope whom ever was in need is OK!

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I was praying for whoever it was. Hope they are ok. I wonder if calling RCCL would elicit any answers!

I was praying for whoever it was. Hope they are ok. I wonder if calling RCCL would elicit any answers!

They would never divulge any personal and private information.

They probably were calling for O negative because it is the universal donor type and can be given to anyone. I have O neg. and I was very popular at the local blood bank.

I called to check and the representative checked but could not find any info. He was very curious himself. HIPPA would prevent details/names but they could tell you generally what happened if they knew.

I'm A negative and used to be very popular with the bloodbank.......until I went to Labadee 10 years ago or so. I got banned for a year each time I went. They stopped calling.

That's true a lot of people don't know their blood types....being ex-military and trying to my hubby a kidney, I know mine....we really should know our blood type...if you don't know please find out!,,,,

We just got off the Independence (April 6-12) and we also had an announcement from the medical center needing blood donors. This was on our last day at sea. They were asking for O positive on our cruise. We never heard anything more about it.

Thank you for asking. I heard the call too around 3:25am. I was so concerned I had trouble sleeping afterward. No one else in my extended group heard the call. I just couldn't imagine what happened to someone and it really freaked me out. I thought we were so close to port that it seemed they could get help from the coast guard if it was that much of an emergency. We were in the port by 4:40 so only about an hour away.

I just hope whoever was in need got some O negative blood and are doing okay.

That's very strange. I was on the ship but didn't hear the announcement. I sleep with earplugs and was definitely asleep at 3 in the morning. I wouldn't think they would give someone blood before it's tested. You have to go through a lot of paper work and tests before you get blood at a hospital. I'm curious to know what that was about as well.

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I thought I was going crazy. My husband heard that there was a message but he couldn't understand what they were saying. The more I told people what I thought I heard I thought I must have been going crazy.

To get a request like that at that hour it must have been pretty serious. All I could think about after I heard the message was how they would give blood straight from one person to another without having it tested first for AIDS or some other blood born illness. I pray it all worked out for the person.

I thought I was going crazy. My husband heard that there was a message but he couldn't understand what they were saying. The more I told people what I thought I heard I thought I must have been going crazy.

 

To get a request like that at that hour it must have been pretty serious. All I could think about after I heard the message was how they would give blood straight from one person to another without having it tested first for AIDS or some other blood born illness. I pray it all worked out for the person.

if it was that big of an emergency I sure as hell would not care if I got it straight from the vein. I'd worry about infection/exposure later. also one would assume anyone brave enough to offer up their blood would be civic minded enough to disclose any issues.

plus you can test for most things easily and rapidly.

I'm A negative and used to be very popular with the bloodbank.......until I went to Labadee 10 years ago or so. I got banned for a year each time I went. They stopped calling.

Just got a call yesterday from the blood bank and for the last two years we have gone to Labadee so I cannot give. :(

Odd-we were on the Freedom also and neither my wife nor I heard the call.:confused:

Given that it was on two different ships on two different days, I wonder if there's some kind of shortage on shore, and in order to resupply the ships they're being asked to provide some "raw" blood in exchange for the processed/tested blood?

Though 3am was a very peculiar time to go looking if that's the case. I wouldn't be enthused at all receiving unprocessed blood, even in an emergency. I'd also find it odd that amongst a crew of 1000+ that they couldn't find an Oneg donor, and needed to wake up the passengers to ask.

We were onVoyager several years ago when it was sailing out of Galveston they asked for donors when a crew member was injured in the engine room They would only accept donors who had donated on shore within the last six months so they could contact the organization you had donated to for verification.

BTW they medi-vaced the man out as soon as they got within helicopter range

Not sure if RCI is the same, but last year on the Carnival Glory there was an announcement about needing O positive, and that the donor needed to have a valid 'blood donor card'. Within minutes, a dozen people were lined up. They took the first three back to donate, and took names and cabin numbers from the others just in case they needed them. Also, they indicated that you needed to not have had an alcoholic drink in the previous two hours.

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Just read on another thread that the Independence sailing had a premature birth, open heart surgery and some other mishap all in the one week.

The open heart surgery surprised me - surely they're not equipped for that?!

Having had to get some injections on a ship before, and having to pause as myself and the nurse slid across the room, I hope they had calm seas if they were operating!

I'm A negative and used to be very popular with the bloodbank.......until I went to Labadee 10 years ago or so. I got banned for a year each time I went. They stopped calling.

That's me exactly! I'm also A- and a regular donor or I was anyway until I went to Labadee two years in a row and have been banned a year each time. It's been a year now since I've been to Labadee so hopefully I'm good to go again.

B positive. I get frequent calls from the blood bank for donations.