JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. – “Pretty good for my first day, right?”
Frank Wake, a medical lab technician with about 30 years of experience, joked with Spc. Cody Shankle, 1st Battalion, 51st Regiment, 1st Multi-Domain Task Force at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, making him laugh despite just sticking him with a needle.
Wake helped collect Shankle’s blood March 6 at a blood drive at JBLM’s Soldiers Field House. Two more drives are planned for next month, including April 14 at Wilson Fitness Center and April 15 at McChord Fitness Center. Both will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
A joint effort between JBLM's Armed Services Blood Bank Center – Pacific Northwest and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, the event brought in 113 registered donors and 88 good units of blood, said Emery Brake, public affairs, blood donor recruiter for the ASBBC – PNW, part of the Armed Services Blood Program.
The ASBP’s mission is “to provide quality blood products and services for all worldwide customers in peace and war,” and its requirements are to support combatant commands, Defense Health Agency medical treatment facilities and contingency blood for rapid deployments, according to ASBP data.
This blood drive was “the type of drive that sustains the donor pool,” said Maj. Laze Stewart, chief of the ASBBC – PNW.
However, more blood donations are still needed.
“The ASBBC-PNW has experienced a decrease in donations and is working toward meeting weekly quota requirements,” Brake said.
Service members face competing interests, including their hometown donation centers and other off-base centers that pay donors. The ASBBC – PNW tries to help people understand that the units of blood they collect “stay in-house, so to speak,” or stay within the armed services, Stewart said.
“To meet our quota requirements, we need to collect at minimum 150 donors a week, which would be around 550 donors a month,” according to a recent ASBBC – PNW command briefing slide. “Currently, we have very few months where we are hitting 500-plus donors. Until we achieve the Army Quota Mission each week and have excess, our support to Madigan (Army Medical Center) will not improve. Our priority is supplying our combatant commands who cannot source blood locally.”
Madigan is considered an ASBBC – PNW primary customer because of its level two trauma center status, “heavy schedule of routine surgeries and births” and anemia and cancer clinics, Stewart said.
The ASBBC – PNW’s goal is to “host three to four blood drives per week on JBLM to ensure the Armed Services Blood Program and contingency shelf quota is met,” according to the organization.
“That’s us shooting for a typical drive to be between 40 and 50 people,” Stewart said. “The reality is the turnout’s just not always what it should be.”
According to an ASBBC – PNW donor pamphlet, “almost 40% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate. Only 5% do.”
But March 6, MWR at JBLM applied a competitive angle to the blood drive “that just brought them out in droves,” Stewart said.
Participants earned double Fields of Friendly Strife points for their units, and the same rule will be applied at the April 14 and 15 drives. FOFS events give active-duty service members and their families the opportunity to gain points for their units. The winning unit receives the FOFS Commander’s Cup at the end of the competition year. The competition is broken down into two divisions: Brigade/Group and Battalion/Squadron.
Shankle’s unit, 1-51 ADA, was the top battalion/squadron represented at the blood drive, where it received 67 FOFS points. The top brigade/group was the 1st MDTF with 81 points, Brake said.
Wake, a pending retiree, loves talking with service members at the events.
“The time spent with these guys is the best,” he said while working with Shankle. “They come in with giant hearts.”
And they did.
“I just like to give back and I just want to see what I can do to help,” Shankle said.
Private First Class Shana Malauulu, 1-51 ADA, donated blood for the first time.
“It’s going pretty well. I was nervous, but I think it’s pretty fast and easy,” she said. “I just wanted to help anyone that needed blood that had the same blood type as me.”
Army spouse and Rainier Inn Operations manager Lizzie Woods was another donor, participating with additional IHG Hotels staff members.
“Giving blood is a great cause,” she said. “I’ve done it my whole life.”
Specialist Michael Stutzman, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, said he had “plenty to give.”
“It’s just a couple hours out of your day that could possibly save someone’s life, so why not?” he said.
Volunteers within the military community, including service members, their family members, Department of Defense civilians, federal employees and contractors can donate to the ASBBC – PNW. The mobile team will travel to units to host blood drives, and donation appointments are also available at the organization’s on-base location, 9904 E. Johnson St., on Lewis Main. Potential donors are asked to call the ASBBC – PNW at 253-968-1850 and leave a voice message to schedule an appointment; they will be called back to confirm.
Donors must be 17 and older and weigh at least 116 pounds to donate whole blood, although 16-year-olds are able to donate with parental consent, according to an ASBP donor pre-screening guide.
For more information on the upcoming JBLM blood drives, visit: https://jblm.armymwr.com/calendar/event/96298
To learn more about blood donor eligibility and the Armed Services Blood Bank Center – Pacific Northwest at JBLM, visit: https://madigan.tricare.mil/Clinics/Armed-Services-Blood-Bank-Center-PNW
Social Sharing