{"id":123272,"date":"2026-01-07T06:57:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T06:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/123272\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T06:57:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T06:57:46","slug":"houchin-community-blood-bank-faces-urgent-need-for-blood-donations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/123272\/","title":{"rendered":"Houchin Community Blood Bank faces urgent need for blood donations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The Houchin Community Blood Bank, which recently aided Los Angeles-area hospitals during wildfires, is now facing its own crisis. <\/p>\n<p>As it marks its 75th year, the blood bank is urgently seeking donations, particularly O-positive and O-negative blood types, which are crucial in emergencies. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We went in with 420 units of O blood type. And currently right now, after the holiday season passed, we actually do not have any,&#8221; said Anna Kazaryan from Houchin.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Houchin Community Blood Bank in Bakersfield is actively seeking more O- negative and O-positive blood type donors. KBAK\/KBFX\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/d4cca60c-899c-4fd4-8962-9a476dfa1b76-Image93.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Houchin Community Blood Bank in Bakersfield is actively seeking more O- negative and O-positive blood type donors. KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n<p>The bank&#8217;s shelves are empty following the holiday travel period, a typically slow time for donations.<\/p>\n<p>Donating is straightforward; individuals can visit any Houchin location with identification. <\/p>\n<p>The donation process takes about five to 10 minutes. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Blood donor at the Houchin Community Blood Bank in Bakersfield. It takes donors about a year and a half to donate one full gallon of blood. The blood bank is actively seeking more O- negative and O-positive blood type donors. KBAK\/KBFX{p}{\/p}\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ecb6df47-b5c3-4f48-a3b1-1e09e958384f-Screenshot20260106221951.jpg\"\/>Blood donor at the Houchin Community Blood Bank in Bakersfield. It takes donors about a year and a half to donate one full gallon of blood. The blood bank is actively seeking more O- negative and O-positive blood type donors. KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are just kind of the stewards of the blood bank, but we need the entire community as their partnership to be able to make sure that we have a safe, reliable blood supply here for our community,&#8221; Kazaryan added.<\/p>\n<p>Houchin&#8217;s impact extends beyond Kern County, participating in a national program to provide support during emergencies.<\/p>\n<p>Locally, the bank operates four mobile blood buses, with an upcoming drive in Tehachapi on Jan. 28. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Blood donations are stored at the Houchin Community Blood Bank in Bakersfield. It takes donors about a year and a half to donate one full gallon of blood. The blood bank is actively seeking more O- negative and O-positive blood type donors. KBAK\/KBFX\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fe9b8e88-769a-419d-a27d-66df3cd64623-Screenshot20260106221924.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Blood donations are stored at the Houchin Community Blood Bank in Bakersfield. It takes donors about a year and a half to donate one full gallon of blood. The blood bank is actively seeking more O- negative and O-positive blood type donors. KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One of the great things about the city of Tehachapi is that at their annual blood drive, they also do platelets there,&#8221; said Gina from Houchin, highlighting the importance of platelets for cancer patients.<\/p>\n<p>To celebrate its anniversary, Houchin is offering special donor promotions this January. <\/p>\n<p>Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n<p>More information and appointments can be found at <a href=\"https:\/\/hcbb.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">hcbb.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The Houchin Community Blood Bank, which recently aided Los Angeles-area hospitals during wildfires, is now&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-123272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}