Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Paul Wu | 171020-N-NR803-021 Portsmouth, Va. (Oct. 20, 2017) Robert Davis, a staff member in...... read more read more
Inspired by the constant need for donations, Robert Davis, a staff member in Naval Medical Center Portsmouth’s (NMCP) Blood Services Center, has become a seasoned platelet donor over the last 20 years. On Oct. 20, he stepped “next door” to make his 99th platelet donation with his 20-year-old son, Samuel, accompanying him for the first time to make his first platelet donation.
“I’d joke when Sam was a youngster,” Davis said. “I said he was my ideal platelet donor because he’s A/B-negative. I told him when you’re old enough, I’m going to get you to donate platelets.”
The center welcomes all blood types for whole blood or platelet donations, but encourages those with O-negative to give extra thought to donating a whole blood product, or those with A/B-negative to give extra consideration in providing a platelet product, due to their universal properties.
The center faces a continuous battle of meeting the demand for blood products needed to save and support lives of family members at NMCP and service members abroad in active theater.
When donations don’t match quotas, the center is forced to spend thousands of dollars weekly to purchase blood products to meet demand. Donations tend to drop off during the winter holiday season due to inclement weather and busy schedules.
“It’s about to get really tough around holiday season,” Davis said. “We still have to purchase quite a few (blood) products and patients are continuously in need.”
“I’ve been wanting to do this for a while and my dad said since I’m A/B-negative that my platelets can go to just about anybody,” Samuel said. “I thought if it’s useful and painless, then why not? It saves lives.”
Donors can expect a platelet donation to take about an hour depending on the each individual, but for an experienced donor like Davis, he made sure that Samuel came prepared to pass the time with ease.
“I brought my headphones and I’m actually going to finish an audiobook of Stephen King’s IT,” Davis’ son Samuel said. “I thought it’d help get the blood pumping.”
Davis said that the platelet donation process is safe, and in his 20 years of donating, he hasn’t faced any complications.
His initial donation was in 1997, the same year Samuel was born. Davis at the time was a division officer in the blood bank in U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka.
“My first donation was 20 years ago and we had just gotten a new platelet apheresis machine that we were trying to validate,” Davis said. “We needed a ‘guinea-pig,’ so I offered myself to help validate our new machine. I just kept going since.”
Davis said that those who choose to donate will quickly realize how easy the donating process is after “jumping that first-time hurdle.”
In a special case due to Davis’ blood type of B-negative, Davis shared at one point he was providing platelets every 72 hours for a period of two weeks to support an adolescent patient in need.
He’ll be providing his 100th platelet donation in February when the NMCP’s Blood Services Center hosts its donor appreciation event. Recipients of whole blood and platelet products will be present to thank donors for providing them with the “gift of life.”
In regular cases, donors are limited to providing platelets no more than twice a month with a maximum of 24 times in a 12-month rolling period, with whole blood donations limited to every 56 days.
Before planning to donate, donors should not take aspirin 48 to 72 hours prior to a donation and should not have Motrin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, 24 hours prior to a donation. Those over the age of 18 including staff members, service members and family members with access to NMCP are all eligible to donate.
The Blood Services Center is located in Bldg. 2, first floor, next to the Laboratory Department. Appointments for platelet donations can be made by calling NMCP at (757) 953-1625. To find out more about the Armed Services Blood Program, or the location of a mobile blood drive, visit www.militaryblood.dod.mil, or follow @militaryblood on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Pinterest.
| Date Taken: | 10.20.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 10.27.2017 11:42 |
| Story ID: | 253267 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 48 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, NMCP Platelet Donor Makes 99th Donation, Brings Son for His First, by PO2 Paul Wu, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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