Photo By Lt. Col. Charles An | Maj. Golden Hand of the 3rd Medical Command Deployment Support observes Raydale...... read more read more
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FORT GILLEM, Ga. - There were six stations ready to screen any volunteers that wanted to donate. They were slow to come in, but one by one they started to come in after learning what it was for and where their blood was going.
Service members and Department of the Army civilian employees on Gillem Enclave came in to donate blood collected by members of the Sullivan Memorial Blood Center on Fort Benning, Ga. The 25 members from the center consisted of both soldiers and civilian medical technicians/phlebotomist collecting blood for the Armed Services Blood Program.
“Wednesday we had a big drive, probably 150 donors,” said Lt. Col. Melanie Sloan, director of the Sullivan Memorial Blood Center.
The numbers Sloan mentioned was from those who gave on Sand Hill on Fort Benning, and she brought her team to Gillem Enclave in hopes of adding more donors.
Raydale Jordan, a medical technician/phlebotomist, was a Navy Corpsman and now works for the Sullivan Memorial Blood Center after stepping away from the military for a period of time.
“Coming back to the medical field and helping people, I get fulfillment by giving back by drawing blood to help other people.”
The numbers were slow at first as some where no sure of the needles and afraid of the pain. But as people started to learn that the blood collected was going to be processed and sent to combat theater within four days to directly support those in need, the donors started to trickle in.
Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Chambers, a member of the 3rd Medical Command Deployment Support on Gillem Enclave, donated blood only for the second time for the Armed Services Blood Program.
“The staff was very knowledgable and they made the process a whole lot simpler than I thought it would be,” expressed Chambers. “They made it a lot more comfortable than it would be.”
Chambers also echoed the same thoughts as Jordan expressing that, “at the end of the day it is about helping others.”
Sloan and her team will be heading to Fort Knox, Ky., in July and August for the Army ROTC’s Warrior Forge.
“I would like to encourage others to come out and donate,” said Sloan. “If you can’t donate, then educate.”
For more information about the Armed Services Blood Program visit www.militaryblood.dod.mil
| Date Taken: | 05.30.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.03.2014 16:36 |
| Story ID: | 131953 |
| Location: | FORT GILLEM, GEORGIA, US |
| Hometown: | ATLANTA, GEORGIA, US |
| Hometown: | FOREST PARK, GEORGIA, US |
| Hometown: | FORT GILLEM, GEORGIA, US |
| Hometown: | FORT MOORE, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 121 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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