FORT JACKSON, S.C. (Feb. 12, 2015) -- When was the last time you attended a blood drive? I remember the blood drives in high school. Do you remember seeing the kids who were so proud that they did a good deed? Some had a sticker on their chest. Some just gave for the free orange juice and cookie afterward. For most of the blood drives I went to as a student, there was a little old lady nearby thanking everyone for doing their part to save a life.
Fast forward to my second deployment in Iraq. I was a maintenance sergeant working in a motor pool on Forward Operating Base Warrior. Like most large installations stateside and abroad, FOB Warrior has a basewide speaker system called the giant voice, which exists for announcements during incoming fire attacks or other emergencies. Occasionally, on FOB Warrior I would hear a call for blood over the giant voice. The announcements would ask for people of a certain blood type to report to the Combat Support Hospital, or CSH, immediately. When you heard those calls you knew there were wounded, and there wasn't enough of their blood type in supply.
There was a call one day for my blood type. I went to the hospital and stood in line. There were at least 30 people from several countries in line before me. For a moment, my thoughts went back to my teenage life, standing in front of that little old lady thanking people for doing their part to save a life. In those days, I never considered that I might have been saving a life. In my naivety, I assumed the doctors knew their patients would be a little low during a routine operation, so they needed to keep some blood on hand.
My experience on FOB Warrior brought it home for me. When blood is needed, it's an emergency. Standing there, I wasn't just contributing to a good cause. I wasn't helping medical institutions stay prepared for their scheduled events. I wasn't looking for a free cookie. I stood there waiting my turn to help save a life.
During another assignment in Iraq I lived next to a CSH on FOB Speicher. I was in a tent just a few yards from the helicopter landing area. I was annoyed by the flights coming in because they were so loud, and the wind from them rattled my tent, shaking loose the dust that had accumulated during the day. I thought the helicopters were just making their rounds and coming back in for the night at irregular times when their missions were complete. I knew they retrieved wounded Soldiers from the roads of Iraq. After all, it was a war zone. But I guess I just had a mental block about the helicopters being necessary for hospital missions that frequently. I assumed there weren't that many Soldiers being wounded.
One night, a flight came early in the evening, and I went out to watch it land. I crossed the defensive barriers between my tent and the landing area and watched as a wounded Soldier on a litter was transported from the UH-60 Blackhawk into the triage area by three hospital corpsmen and one of the flight crew. I said a prayer for that Soldier, considering him to be one of the unlucky few, and I went back to my tent. The next evening, another flight arrived, and I went to view the landing. This time, two Blackhawks were landing while two others hovered close by. Three wounded Soldiers were on board. In short time, the helicopters were gone and another arrived 30 minutes later with wounded on board. Again, there was a call for blood. It had not occurred to me until that moment what these helicopters were doing every day.
After my experience on FOB Warrior, I was annoyed that in today's military we were unable to keep in supply something so important. I thought critically of the personnel who are responsible for tracking those quantities and ordering more when needed. But I had a slightly better understanding of how the situation can become complicated after seeing firsthand on FOB Speicher how often blood may be needed.
I had another experience on FOB Fenty in Afghanistan that enlightened me as to how much blood may be needed to save a life. During one of our many incoming fire attacks, a Soldier was wounded by a rocket. Another call for blood was soon announced over the giant voice. That Soldier's life was saved some seven hours and 30 units of blood later.
Back home, we don't have as many people wounded by projectiles, but we do have other traumatic accidents. Premature infants, new mothers with childbirth complications, surgery patients and people with blood disorders also use donated blood.
Much of today's medical care depends on a steady supply of blood from healthy donors. I think most people are as uneducated as I was about the quantities of blood needed. Here are some statistics provided by the American Red Cross: A newborn undergoing open-heart surgery may require 10 units of blood. A person involved in an automobile accident may require up to 100 units of blood to survive. A person undergoing a liver transplant may require as many as 40 units of blood. A person with sickle cell disease may go through up to four units per week. A cancer patient may use up to eight units per week. And the list goes on.
According to the Red Cross, about 38 percent of the population is eligible to donate blood, but fewer than 10 percent actually do each year. Contrast that with the fact that every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood.
The winter season is one of the most difficult times of year to collect blood to meet patient needs. Throughout winter, weather and illnesses may affect donations, but hospital patients still need transfusions of blood and platelets. Through the beginning of January, donations are down approximately 15 percent overall from what the Red Cross needs to maintain a sufficient supply of blood and platelets for patients in need.
Several organizations exist to collect blood donations, one of which -- the American Red Cross -- supplies about 40 percent of the blood donations in the country annually. The South Carolina Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross helps meet the needs of patients in about 50 regional hospitals. Last fiscal year it distributed nearly 120,000 pints of blood to area hospitals. It collects about 1,200 to 1,400 pints of blood annually from Fort Jackson. The Armed Services Blood Program and the Red Cross partner to collect blood here at weekend blood drives. The Red Cross also hosts weekday blood drives on post. In January alone, there were four blood drives on Fort Jackson. Thanks to the generosity of the post's personnel and the focus of the commanders, the blood drives usually exceeded goals.
Donating blood is a safe process. A sterile needle is used only once for each donor and then discarded. An adult of average weight has about 10 to 12 pints of blood in his body. Roughly 1 pint is given during a donation. A healthy donor may donate red blood cells every 56 days, or double red cells every 112 days. A healthy donor may donate platelets as few as seven days apart, but no more than 24 times a year. All donated blood is tested for HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis and other infectious diseases before it can be released to hospitals. Information given to the American Red Cross during the donation process is confidential.
What are the other incentives to donating blood at Fort Jackson? The first and most important incentive is that 1 pint of blood can help save up to three lives. That means potentially up to 4,200 lives could be saved annually by the donors at Fort Jackson. If you began donating blood at age 17 and donated every 56 days until you reached 76, you would have donated 48 gallons of blood, potentially helping save more than 1,000 lives.
Much of the blood donated on Fort Jackson goes to fellow Soldiers in need. Donors receive a free mini physical complete with blood pressure, temperature, pulse and iron count checks. Many commanders issue unit-specific incentives as well.
Giving the gift of life doesn't cost you a thing and only takes about an hour of your time. If only one more percent of all Americans would give blood, blood shortages would disappear for the foreseeable future.
Finally, if those incentives are not convincing enough, there are still cookies at the end. The Red Cross comes stocked with sodas and snacks to help donors relax and recharge after giving blood.
There are lots of different kinds of heroes. Some protect you on the streets. Some put out fires. Some go to war to defend your way of life. Some are health care providers. Some are teachers and mentors to children. I've done things in my life that have caused people to call me "hero". But none were as easy and few were as important as the day I gave blood in Kirkuk or the day I gave blood in high school.
To learn more about giving blood or to make an appointment, visit www.redcrossblood.org or call the American Red Cross on Fort Jackson at 751-4329.
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