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Springs/Military Bleed for One Another
April 5, 2007 10:01 AM
Earlier this week Colorado Springs Memorial Hospital put out the word that they were facing a critical shortage of type O blood, and were in need of other blood types as well. Kathy Hook is the donor resource coordinator for Memorials blood bank. She says the shortage happened because of at least three factors; one, spring break meant that a lot of the hospitals regular donors were out of town, and, two, Memorial used a lot of blood treating victims of last weeks tornado in Holly, Colorado.
HOOK: And this year, we had kind of an additional hit, in that the military did blood drive in the Colorado Springs community.
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WHITNEY: That drive, over five days starting March 19th, drew huge response. In fact, it set a record for the largest ever blood drive by the military.
BEARDSLEY: My last count on this endeavor was 3,364 units that we brought in.
WHITNEY: Colonel Stephen Beardsley is with the Armed Services Blood Program in Virginia, which coordinated the March drive in the Springs.
BEARDSLEY: And our previous top drive that Im aware of, approximately 10 years ago at West Point, was approximately 1,200 units.
WHITNEY: A major reason the militarys drive was so successful was that, for the first time, it actively recruited civilians to come onto military bases to give blood.
But despite the military drive tapping its home supply, Memorials Kathy Hook says the hospital fully supported their drive last month to send blood to soldiers on the battlefield. And, she says, it may be unusual for the military to recruit civilians to give blood, but not the other way around.
HOOK: And they have been wonderful about letting us come onto base, making the necessary arrangements to have us come out, and so I would say our relationship with the military is exceptional.
WHITNEY: Hook says that Memorial and Penrose hospital regularly collect blood from the areas military bases, and that when Evans Army Community Hospital at Ft. Carson is short of blood, Memorial sends blood if it can, at no charge. Thats significant, because when Memorial cant meet its blood demands locally, Hook says they have to buy it from commercial suppliers.
HOOK: That blood is double the cost, it costs the patients and the hospital and the community twice as much or more when that blood has to be purchased from an outside source.
WHITNEY: Yesterday Memorial held a special blood drive to try and make up for shortage its experiencing. Hook said they were happy that some 70 people showed up in response. But, she said, yesterdays drive didnt put area blood supplies on a firm footing. Hook says that its been years since Colorado Springs had a really comfortable supply of blood on hand. And the communitys blood needs are only expected to grow, as Memorial and Penrose both prepare to open news hospitals on the north end of town, and blood needs tend to increase in the summer.
And in the fall, area blood banks expect to face another acute shortage as the military plans to return to the city and again solicit civilian blood donations for the troops. Hook says Memorial is preparing to deal with that situation, and that it again fully supports the military tapping in to the non-military population. As great as it is to see the public respond to special appeals, though, Hook says the best time to donate blood is when theres no obvious special need.
HOOK: People only think about it when theres a big need, and actually every time theres a hurricane, it takes time to process that blood so that that blood is tested and on the shelf and ready to go when those accidents happen.
WHITNEY: To learn more about donating blood, you can call Memorial hospital at 365-5411, or log on to their website: www.MemorialHealthSystems.com/ourservices.
Posted by Eric Whitney on April 5, 2007 10:01 AM | Permalink
