Blood bus provides service
By MATT NEWHOUSE
News Editor
It's the "mobile" in American Red Cross Bloodmobile.
A bus outfitted as a self-contained blood collection and storage unit was in Lincolnville Friday to gather blood.
Three such buses are based in the Central Plains Region. The one in Lincolnville, a 1991 Bluebird, is the oldest.
"It's designed for the smaller goals," explained Valerie Mitchell, supervisor. "It's supposed to do 50 or less, but we've done up to 75."
Larger donor sites, such as churches or schools, might have 150 or more donors. The main office in Wichita had 120 blood donors on the Fourth of July.
The bus has four couches built in, plus seating areas for donors to complete paperwork before donating and relax afterward.
Powerful generators run throughout the stay, providing power to keep the interior cool and to refrigerate the blood.
With just four beds, donors are supposed to be by appointment only, Mitchell said, but occasionally a walk-in is accepted. Appointments means there's no waiting around for a couch to become available, so the process goes quicker than at larger collections.
Some of those who donated after Sept. 11 have become regular donors. More than 60 percent of the population is eligible to give blood, but only about five percent of those who can give blood do.
"A lot of first-timers are very scared but when they get it over with, they say it's not so bad," Mitchell said. "I was that way myself."
Blood collection numbers are unstable during the summer, because blood drives aren't held at schools and many regular donors leave for vacations. Blood lasts 42 days, and no artificial or synthetic blood is available. The Red Cross ideally wants a three-day supply on hand, which means about 500 donors daily.
Currently the Central Plains Region, which serves Kansas and northern Oklahoma, has a one-day supply. Since a single crash victim or open-heart surgery patient may need up to 50 pints of blood, the region won't have enough blood to meet emergency needs.
Blood donors must be 17 or older, weigh at least 110 pounds, and be in general good health. Donors can give six times a year (every two months).
In addition, donors are needed to provide platelets, which assist with blood clotting. They have a shelf life of five days.
Platelet donors are important because it takes several pints of whole blood to get one pint of platelets.
To obtain platelets, blood is drawn from the arm and goes into a centrifuge, where the platelets are spun off, and the remaining blood components returned to the donor.
The procedure takes about two hours but recovery is much quicker since most of the fluid and blood components are returned to the body. Platelet donors can give every two weeks. The only site in the Central Plains Region that accepts platelet donors is at the Red Cross blood center in Wichita.
At least 550 platelet donors are needed per month. Only about 800 people have agreed to donate, but not all do so regularly.
For more information on donating blood or platelets, call the Red Cross at 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.
