Blood drives support local community

  • Published
  • By Airman Nathan Riley
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AFB, S.D. --  In 2006, Ellsworth personnel donated 885 pints of blood to help replenish the local community supply, and this year's contributions are well on their way after the 28th Operations Support Squadron sponsored a blood drive today.

Blood drives like this one provide a portion of the blood needed; on average, United Blood Services need 169 to 170 pints of blood a day, said Nikki Heier, United Blood Services donor recruiter. Blood drives, like the one the OSS hosted supplies an average, 23 units of blood. A unit equates to almost one pint.

The rest of the blood is either received from people who donate in the center at West Omaha Street in Rapid City or from the mobile service, which goes to the various businesses and groups around the area.

"About 80 percent of our blood is received from the mobile service," Ms. Heier said.
Once the blood is drawn, it is sent for testing in Arizona, a process that lasts three days. If the blood comes back clean, it can be separated into red blood cells, platelets, plasma and cryoprecipitate, which can be used to treat people with illnesses such as anemia, leukemia, cancer, blood-clotting disorders or hemophilia.

If the blood comes back from testing deemed unusable, the blood is quarantined and then destroyed. The person who donated the blood will also be contacted and informed regarding the nature of the blood's unusability.

In addition to disqualifications from testing, many donors are determined ineligible to donate in the screening process. Blood donors at Ellsworth drives go through the same testing and screening process, and may be less likely to pass the screening process if as a recent returnee from a deployment.

The testing disqualifies a lot of donor's blood because of the strict guidelines for donating blood, which some donors are aware of.

"I donate because not a lot of people can," said 2nd Lt. Charlynne Mcginnis, 28th OSS deputy chief of intelligence operations.

The high ops tempo and deployment cycles at Ellsworth help encourage some donors to come forward. The global war on terrorism has made the life-saving reality of donating blood personal.

"I think about it as if I were in their shoes," said 2nd Lt. Brian Shovelain, 28th OSS executive officer and blood drive organizer. "I could be in that situation (of needing blood)."

More than 15 military members signed up for the OSS blood drive, meeting the unit goal.
"I think it's a duty for people who are healthy (to donate blood)," said Lieutenant Shovelain.

Those healthy people who are willing to donate can do so at upcoming blood drives scheduled Jan. 18 at the 28th Communication Squadron and Jan. 26 at the Rushmore Center.

For more information about donating, call the United Blood Services at 342-8585 or visit www.unitedbloodservices.org.