University Health offers our blood donors the opportunity to participate in several special blood donation programs. These programs benefit the community as a whole, as well as individual patients.

Pediatric Cardiology Program

When a child needs heart surgery, donated blood is critically important—but only blood with specific qualifications is safe for children to use. A special group of donors will be selected and screened to help these young patients.

For our pediatric cardiology patients, we will collect Low Titer Group O Whole Blood. Prospective donors are screened to ensure they don’t have HLA antibodies. Donors will also have their anti-A and anti-B antibodies tested.

We are good stewards of all donated blood, so any blood donated to this program that isn’t used for specific pediatric cardiology cases will be made available to treat other patients.

Testosterone Replacement Therapy Blood Collections

University Health was the first location in San Antonio to get FDA approval to collect blood from patients on testosterone replacement therapy. This type of therapy can create excess red blood cells, which must be bled off for the patient’s safety.

Before, our patients had to pay for this bleeding procedure, and the blood had to be disposed of. Now, Blood Donor Services has approval to collect this blood free of charge for our testosterone replacement therapy patients. This blood is safe for all our adult patients in need of a transfusion.

If you are having testosterone replacement therapy and would like to participate in this free service, please have your doctor send the therapeutic phlebotomy order form to our blood donation center.

Give Blood to a Specific Patient

We offer our donors the opportunity to give blood to a specific patient, typically a friend or family member. This is called a directed donation.

If you would like to donate blood to a specific patient, please have your doctor send the completed directed donation form to Blood Donor Services before scheduling an appointment to give blood. Because there is important information to understand before donating to a particular patient, one of our medical staff members will review the form with you before you give blood.

San Antonio Sports Corporate Cup

The San Antonio Sports Corporate Cup brings employees together in a fun, active and competitive way. Part of the competition involves a Charity Challenge, and University Health’s Blood Donor Services is one of the benefiting charities. Between January and May, participating company competitors donate blood. Each donation adds one point to the organization’s total score on the day of the event.

University Health has participated in the San Antonio Corporate Cup since 2016, and we would love to help you set up a blood drive at your organization.