Blood donors needed to replenish huge drop in UCLA hospitals' supplies
UCLA’s Blood and Platelet Center provides the blood and platelet products needed for organ transplants, oncology, trauma injuries and other life-threatening conditions. Every single blood donation has the potential to save a life, said Laura Pinner, the center’s campus donor recruiter.
But when school lets out and summer begins, blood and platelet collection at the center suffers nearly a 90 percent drop. That’s why the center relies on staff and faculty to roll up their sleeves and pick up the slack.
Since 1975, the center has collected blood, platelets, plasma and cryoprecipitate (a product made from unusable plasma) on behalf of UCLA’s Westwood and Santa Monica hospitals. "It’s going right here in the community," Pinner emphasized. "The hospitals are so close," she said, pointing out that these are the hospitals most likely to care for members of the campus community in the case of an accident, injury or an urgent medical problem.
Today, the Blood and Platelet Center supplies 80 percent of the blood and platelet products needed at UCLA’s two hospitals. "On average, we transfuse a total of about 80,000 components annually," said Dr. Shan Yuan, assistant medical director of transfusion medicine. A component comprises all the by-products available from one donation. From July through August, however, the less populated campus contributes only about 10,000 components.
Aside from the summer decline, there is a constant need for blood and platelets, because, as Pinner explained, "Blood — and plasma — doesn’t last forever once it leaves your body. Blood has a shelf-life of about a month, and platelets have a shelf life of about a week." As a result, the center needs many and frequent donors.
On top of the inner satisfaction that a donor gets from giving, donations never go unrewarded. The center offers various gifts to get staff and faculty involved. Not only are donors granted the opportunity to flaunt a hero sticker and a brightly colored bandage of their choice, but staff and faculty donors can choose from a wide range of gifts — four hours of compensatory time, meal vouchers, movie tickets or gift cards for the student store. Also, as an added bonus until Sept. 16, donors are being offered Blood and Platelet Center cooler bags.
Staff and faculty can stop by on their lunch breaks or between classes since it typically takes only 45 minutes to donate blood. There are two locations to donate: at 1045 Gayley Avenue, two blocks north of Wilshire Boulevard between Kinross and Weyburn avenues, and on the "A" level of Ackerman Union on campus.
"As someone with heart disease, who was once on the heart transplant list here at the UCLA Medical Center, I personally know the importance and life-saving capacity of donating blood with the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center," said Pinner, who was on the list in 2001, but no longer is. "I myself would be relying on those donors."
To donate blood, or for additional information, call (310) 825-0888, Ext. 2, or e-mail
gotblood@ucla.edu. Drop-ins without appointments are also welcome at both centers.
