March hosts Armed Services blood drive

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Joe Davidson
  • 452 AMW Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  The Armed Services Blood Program held its annual blood drive at the Hap Arnold House Saturday during the base picnic collected 60 pints of blood.

A combined team of approximately 15 Navy Corpsman and civilian certified  phlebotomists from Naval Medical Center San Diego and Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton screened candidates and collected pints of the vital life fluid while a vast majority of the base population enjoyed the local community's hospitality with family and friends.

Team leader Cesar Fontanilla said the temporary donation center, set up in the rooms and patio areas of the historic residence were arranged in a series of stations to accommodate donors during the six-hour event.

At the first station the donor completed a brief personal history before moving on to station two, where vital statistics were taken, such as blood pressure and temperature, Fontanilla said. The third station was where each volunteer met with a member of the medical staff for a personal, one-on-one interview to determine the donor's eligibility to give blood. At station four, blood bags are filled, and at station five, donors relax in one of the air conditioned, mobile, donation vehicles.

"At station six the donors get granola bars and Gatorade to help replenish electrolytes to their bodies," Fontanilla said.

Those who were able to donate were also given a T-shirt and a blood-donation challenge coin.

The donation process only takes about an hour, but the work doesn't end there, according to Lt. j.g. Jeffrey Hebert, division officer, Blood Donor Center, Naval Medical Center, San Diego.

"The blood has to be completely frozen within eight hours," he said. "So when we have collected a substantial number of units from a blood drive they are transported to NMCSD for processing."

It takes about two and a half days to fully process a unit of blood, Lieutenant Hebert said.

"Six to seven days later it's on its way to the AOR," he added.