Red Cross Strives To Provide Quality Blood Services
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
A child involved in a car accident loses blood and needs a transfusion. A grandparent undergoing heart surgery needs blood to be kept alive while under the knife.
In the United States, someone needs blood approximately every two seconds.
The American Red Cross is there to help. They are the nation's largest supplier of blood, plasma and tissue products. More than 4.5 million donors and 3,000 hospitals work with the Red Cross through its national network of 38 blood regions. Almost half of the nation's blood reserves are supplied by ARC.
Patients undergoing surgery, accident victims, cancer patients and hemophiliacs are just a few of the many who need the life-saving blood provided by the organization. The different types of blood provided include O positive and negative, B positive and negative, A positive and negative and AB positive and negative.
Kosciusko County is part of the Fort Wayne Regional Blood Services of the Red Cross. Kosciusko Community Hospital is one of about 47 area hospitals who serve the region.
Rebecca Notestine, executive director for the county chapter, said the area is prepared for any emergency because of the number of people and hospitals involved in the region.
The Red Cross of Kosciusko County holds blood drives at the Center Lake Pavilion on the second Tuesday of every month. Other blood drives - in Milford, Mentone, Silver Lake, Syracuse and North Webster - are held around the county every other month.
Wawasee, Tippecanoe Valley, Whitko and Warsaw high schools hold blood drives as does Grace College. Many companies, including DePuy and Biomet, also sponsor blood drives.
A careful process secures safe blood for those who need it.
Blood donors must be a minimum of 17 years old, must weigh at least 110 pounds and must be in good health. The interval between donations is 56 days, Notestine said.
Donors are carefully recruited and screened for any factors that may be a health risk. ARC discards about 2 percent of the blood collected because of test results, according to statements released by the American Red Cross national chapter. But only a fraction of those donations discarded pose a true health risk.
A person may not donate blood if they have had viral hepatitis, jaundice or HIV or AIDS. Other restrictions concerning medication and diseases will also prohibit a person from donating blood. The Red Cross can identify restrictions for anyone who isn't sure.
Before giving a donation, the donor reads a pamphlet on blood donation. A confidential interview is given by a physician about the health and practices of the possible donor.
Blood is drawn by a trained phlabotomist, who is paid. Blood is considered a pharmaceutical product and ARC falls under FDA regulations, which is why the phlabotomist must be paid.
ARC still incorporates volunteers into its blood drive. Volunteers register donors, act as observers and work in the canteen, providing cookies and juice to donors, Notestine said.
Preceding donation, the donor receives a confidential unit exclusion form. If the donor does not think their blood is usable based on questions asked in the questionnaire, the donor places a "don't use" sticker on the form. The sticker is in the form of a bar code and can only be read later. A "use" sticker is placed on the form if the user believes their blood is not tainted.
A phone number is given to the donor in case the donor changes his or her mind about the donation later.
A database is kept by the ARC of more than 250,000 deferred donors.
Once blood is donated, ARC tests the blood for health risk factors.
Their system is considered safe. Only one in 676,000 has a risk of receiving an HIV-positive unit of blood through a transfusion, according to information released by the American Red Cross national chapter.
ARC first began their involvement with blood donations during World War I. The military proved blood could be transferred from one person to another and ARC answered the call to find donors.
It is because blood donations began during the World War I and II era that ARC has the donors it does.
"Our donor base is an older donor base," Notestine said. She said older people will donate because they remember the wars and the importance of donating for soldiers.
ARC encourages younger people to donate. Blood donations at high schools are an attempt to encourage young people to donate, Notestine said. She said she hoped they would return and donate again.
The Kosciusko ARC Chapter was chartered in 1917. The chapter has been in the blood donation business ever since.
For more information, contact the local chapter at 267-5244 or the Fort Wayne Area Blood Region office at 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. Their national website is at www.redcross.org. [[In-content Ad]]
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A child involved in a car accident loses blood and needs a transfusion. A grandparent undergoing heart surgery needs blood to be kept alive while under the knife.
In the United States, someone needs blood approximately every two seconds.
The American Red Cross is there to help. They are the nation's largest supplier of blood, plasma and tissue products. More than 4.5 million donors and 3,000 hospitals work with the Red Cross through its national network of 38 blood regions. Almost half of the nation's blood reserves are supplied by ARC.
Patients undergoing surgery, accident victims, cancer patients and hemophiliacs are just a few of the many who need the life-saving blood provided by the organization. The different types of blood provided include O positive and negative, B positive and negative, A positive and negative and AB positive and negative.
Kosciusko County is part of the Fort Wayne Regional Blood Services of the Red Cross. Kosciusko Community Hospital is one of about 47 area hospitals who serve the region.
Rebecca Notestine, executive director for the county chapter, said the area is prepared for any emergency because of the number of people and hospitals involved in the region.
The Red Cross of Kosciusko County holds blood drives at the Center Lake Pavilion on the second Tuesday of every month. Other blood drives - in Milford, Mentone, Silver Lake, Syracuse and North Webster - are held around the county every other month.
Wawasee, Tippecanoe Valley, Whitko and Warsaw high schools hold blood drives as does Grace College. Many companies, including DePuy and Biomet, also sponsor blood drives.
A careful process secures safe blood for those who need it.
Blood donors must be a minimum of 17 years old, must weigh at least 110 pounds and must be in good health. The interval between donations is 56 days, Notestine said.
Donors are carefully recruited and screened for any factors that may be a health risk. ARC discards about 2 percent of the blood collected because of test results, according to statements released by the American Red Cross national chapter. But only a fraction of those donations discarded pose a true health risk.
A person may not donate blood if they have had viral hepatitis, jaundice or HIV or AIDS. Other restrictions concerning medication and diseases will also prohibit a person from donating blood. The Red Cross can identify restrictions for anyone who isn't sure.
Before giving a donation, the donor reads a pamphlet on blood donation. A confidential interview is given by a physician about the health and practices of the possible donor.
Blood is drawn by a trained phlabotomist, who is paid. Blood is considered a pharmaceutical product and ARC falls under FDA regulations, which is why the phlabotomist must be paid.
ARC still incorporates volunteers into its blood drive. Volunteers register donors, act as observers and work in the canteen, providing cookies and juice to donors, Notestine said.
Preceding donation, the donor receives a confidential unit exclusion form. If the donor does not think their blood is usable based on questions asked in the questionnaire, the donor places a "don't use" sticker on the form. The sticker is in the form of a bar code and can only be read later. A "use" sticker is placed on the form if the user believes their blood is not tainted.
A phone number is given to the donor in case the donor changes his or her mind about the donation later.
A database is kept by the ARC of more than 250,000 deferred donors.
Once blood is donated, ARC tests the blood for health risk factors.
Their system is considered safe. Only one in 676,000 has a risk of receiving an HIV-positive unit of blood through a transfusion, according to information released by the American Red Cross national chapter.
ARC first began their involvement with blood donations during World War I. The military proved blood could be transferred from one person to another and ARC answered the call to find donors.
It is because blood donations began during the World War I and II era that ARC has the donors it does.
"Our donor base is an older donor base," Notestine said. She said older people will donate because they remember the wars and the importance of donating for soldiers.
ARC encourages younger people to donate. Blood donations at high schools are an attempt to encourage young people to donate, Notestine said. She said she hoped they would return and donate again.
The Kosciusko ARC Chapter was chartered in 1917. The chapter has been in the blood donation business ever since.
For more information, contact the local chapter at 267-5244 or the Fort Wayne Area Blood Region office at 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. Their national website is at www.redcross.org. [[In-content Ad]]