Photo By Jerome Mapp | Staff Sgt Dylan Lee Schaefer, a military policeman with the 16th MP Brigade, donates...... read more read more
FORT BRAGG, N.C. – The Blood Donor Center (BDC) here sprang into action in late May when Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas issued an urgent Army-wide appeal for 90 units of O-positive and O-negative blood to treat several burn patients, due to their own dwindling blood supply that resulted from an increase of trauma patients at the Level 1 Trauma Center.
Fort Bragg, one of 10 Army BDCs that responded to BAMC’s request, responded with 10 units, according to MAJ William Ceballos, chief of the Blood Donor Center.
“We were able to assist Brooke Army Medical Center without compromising our own supply,” Ceballos said. “We were one of ten BDCs that BAMC contacted.”
BAMC is the largest military hospital and the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the Department of Defense (DoD). It is also home to the Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center, the sole facility within DoD that treats combat burn casualties, beneficiaries, and civilian emergencies.
With so many burn victims, BAMC reached out to the Fort Bragg BDC and other BDCs around the Army for assistance in securing a sufficient level of blood units that will be needed, especially in unforeseen emergencies.
Ceballos said that each month the Fort Bragg BDC collects about 700 blood units of all blood types. With so much blood needed for WAMC and for Army missions downrange, there would have to be a blood quota in order to satisfy the demands.
“Womack [Army Medical Center] and Fort Bragg’s tenant deploying commands do not have a weekly quota,” Ceballos said. “However, they do have a minimum amount of blood units that must be maintained in their inventory at all times: 140 blood units of all blood types, mostly O-positive blood type.”
The Fort Bragg BDC is part of the Armed Services Blood Program (ASBP), which does have a weekly quota. Fort Bragg’s weekly ASBP quota is 58 blood units per week of all blood types, but 45 of those units have to be O-positive, he added.
The BDC schedules blood drives every week, with trips to Fort Jackson and the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in South Carolina, and Fort Lee and Fort Eustis in Virginia.
Blood that is collected at the Fort Bragg location and the other 19 centers across the country and around the world is shipped to a centralized location. From there, the ASBP determines where the blood is needed most and ensures its safe arrival at a determined destination.
Ceballos said that the BDC welcomes blood donations from those with access to Fort Bragg installation and all blood types.
“Eligible donors include all military personnel, their dependents, and civilian personnel [i.e., military and DoD retirees, DoD employees, and contractors],” Ceballos said.
Our primary customer [for blood products] is Womack Army Medical Center and ASBP. Other potential customers include MTFs and Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. Womack’s commander, COL Christopher Jarvis, has control over the BDC’s military and civilian personnel, while the ASBP has regulatory oversight.”
According to Ceballos, the Fort BDC collects and processes whole blood and platelet donations. All blood donors can donate every two months. Speed is important when handling and shipping blood products because whole blood is only good for 35 to 42. Blood is shipped to the ASBP central processing location within four days.
Platelets expire after 5 days and are used where they are collected. The platelet collection process takes about an hour and a half. The recovery time between donations is short and donors can donate platelets every two days. Platelets help control bleeding and are mainly used by cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
“We are always in need of platelet donors,” Ceballos said. “The hospital must have two platelet units available for transfusion at all time. Platelet units expire five days from collection.”
Ceballos wants potential donors to know that the BDC has a constant need for blood donors, especially those with O-positive and AB-positive blood.
He added, “The blood you donate today might be the blood that saves a life tomorrow.”
| Date Taken: | 09.24.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 09.24.2021 16:46 |
| Story ID: | 406021 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 502 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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