Blood donations save lives, summer supply low

Parkland to host blood drive Aug. 19

DALLAS – While the nation responds with grief and outrage to the most recent mass shootings, many people are motivated by these events to donate blood to save a life in need. It’s easy to comprehend the urgent need for blood when a patient is critically injured and seconds can mean the difference between life and death. But at Parkland Memorial Hospital, the demand for blood and blood products reaches beyond caring for patients in its Rees-Jones Trauma Center.

On any given day, patients receive life-saving transfusions for conditions such as chronic gastrointestinal bleeding or sickle cell disease, a severe hereditary form of anemia in which there are not enough healthy red blood cells to adequately deliver oxygen throughout the body. Blood and blood products may also be used during surgical cases, labor and delivery, dialysis or for oncology patients, among others. As a result, Parkland is one of the largest users of blood products in the area.

To meet the urgent need for blood, Parkland Health & Hospital System will host a blood drive on Monday, Aug. 19 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Private Dining Room located at the back of the Cafeteria at Parkland Memorial Hospital, 5200 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas 75235. No appointment is needed. Blood donors should bring a driver’s license, know their medications, eat a good meal and drink lots of fluids before donating. To learn more, contact Leslie Neilson at 469-419-1628 or Leslie.Neilson@phhs.org

In fiscal year 2018, the total transfused blood products used at Parkland was 26,827 units, with the vast majority, 20,888 units or 78%, of those being red blood cells. The remainder was platelets, cryoprecipitate (clotting proteins to help control bleeding) and plasma, according to Terri Thibodeau, Parkland’s Lab Manager of Transfusion Services.

These products are all used in rapidly bleeding patients – be it from trauma, complicated pregnancy or other acute bleeds. Platelets, which are tiny blood cells that form clots to stop bleeding, are used predominately in oncology.

In FY 18, blood products were used in the following departments at Parkland:
– Massive Transfusion Protocol, trauma or severe bleeds, 2,852 units, 10%
– Apheresis, 3,691 units, 14%
– Labor & Delivery, 2,566 units, 10%
– Other areas such as oncology, dialysis, etc., 17,718 units or 66%

“It is critical that we always have a large supply of O-negative and AB plasma,” said Thibodeau, adding that the shelf life of blood is 42 days. “Those two are considered ‘universal donors,’ meaning that it’s safe to transfuse before we obtain a blood type on a patient.”

For those cases when seconds do count, Parkland stores a supply of universal donor blood in the Rees-Jones Trauma Center for patients who need immediate blood products.

For more information about donating blood, visit www.carterbloodcare.org. For more information about Parkland services, visit www.parklandhospital.com