Donating blood? There's an app for that

MONROVIA, Calif. (KABC) -- A brand new cellphone app is helping users give the gift of life.

Kasie Uyeno, the City of Hope Medical Center manager of donor recruitment, helped develop the COH donor app designed to make giving blood more convenient.

At City of Hope, cancer patients, those receiving organs or marrow transplants and people undergoing large surgeries need platelet transfusions to survive. Uyeno hopes the free app will get people more excited about donating blood.

"We like to share patient stories. There are so many beautiful, magical things that happen here on campus and this is app is going to give us the avenue to share those things directly with our donors," Uyeno said.

The app helps users find blood drives near them, schedule appointments and monitor how many times they have donated. It also tells users when the hospital needs more of their blood type.

Uyeno said app developers are also working on a new feature of the app that will alert donors when their blood is being used and where it went. "I want to help drive home the importance of giving blood to save lives," she said.

The COH donor app is free on iTunes.