Recognizing the impact of blood donations

One in seven patients entering the hospital are in need of a blood transfusion, reports the American Blood Center. To provide context, every two seconds, someone in the United States needs a blood donation.

To provide community members with the opportunity to contribute to save lives, on Monday, Sept. 19, The Inland Northwest Blood Center will be holding a blood drive in Ritzville.

The donation center will be set up in front of Gilson Gymnasium, and any eligible patrons interested in donating can do so between 11:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Donors can make an appointment by emailing Lind-Ritzville National Honor Society (NHS) advisor Jason Aldrich at [email protected] or by logging on to http://www.inbcsaves.org. Registration can also be via walk-in at the Gilson Gymnasium foyer prior to donating.

Lind-Ritzville NHS helps advertise for the Inland Northwest Blood Center’s blood drive.

Aldrich explained the group’s involvement, “The NHS is an organization based not only on academic excellence but on character, leadership, and service. This is just one way that the members of our local chapter can demonstrate service to our communities.”

The impact of donating blood is difficult to grasp until hearing the stories from recipients of blood transfusions.

Before Lauren Larsen of San Francisco, California, went into labor with her first child, her liver and kidneys simultaneously failed, leading to an emergency C-section.

After a seizure caused her to slip into a coma, Larsen recalled, “Round-the-clock blood transfusions - more than 200 pints total - sustained me for six weeks while my body decided whether it wanted to live or die.”

Blood transfusions provided Larsen with the opportunity to experience life with her new family. Now, Larsen is happy and healthy along with her nine-year-old daughter.

“ filled with gratitude not only for my little family… but for those we consider family: the more than 200 complete strangers who took the time to roll up their sleeves to help a new mom in need,” Larsen explained.

“Blood donors are angels pure and simple,” she added.

Larsen’s story is one of many whose lives have been saved by blood drives.

Aldrich continued, “Donating blood is an easy way to help our neighbors. We all wouldn’t hesitate to shovel snow, rake leaves, or take care of each other’s cats.”

“Why not help someone when they are on an operating table?” he concluded.

There will always be a need for more blood donations. Sean Kane, journalist for Popular Science, explained, “The world is in dire need of a blood reserve, even with the rising donor numbers in the developed world. This need is even higher in parts of the world with high HIV infection rates, which have even lower reserves of donor-worthy blood.”

Currently, all donations comprising the world’s blood reserve are directly from donors, but researchers are developing methods to synthesize blood.

Several methods are in the works, but none are ready for widespread implementation.

One process Kane describes as “growing natural blood from artificial means” involves developing stem cells into blood cells and returning the new blood cells to the donor.

This has been successful in small, 2ml transfusions, but progress will need to be made before the standard 470ml transfusions are possible.

Another potential method for building the blood reserve is the innovation of artificial blood substitutes, non-blood substances that assume the role of blood (namely transporting oxygen) in the patients.

Not intending to replace the role of human blood donations but rather working to provide options for patients with special blood requirements, the United Kingdom’s National Health Services will be conducting the first clinical trial of an artificial blood substitute on humans in 2017.

Dr. Nick Watkins, one of the researchers for the study, explained, “Scientists across the globe have been investigating for a number of years how to manufacture red blood cells to offer an alternative to donated blood to treat patients.”

Whether or not synthetic blood will be possible in the future does not detract from the impact that the Inland Northwest Blood Center’s blood drive has on local patients in need.

Lind-Ritzville NHS encourages all community members to save a life by rolling up their sleeves on Monday.