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Blood donation
February 14, 2012
Parents can donate cord blood at St. David's Medical Center
Parents who want to help people suffering from blood diseases or immune system disorders can now donate their newborn’s cord blood at St. David’s Medical Center rather than discarding it.
St. David’s at 919 E. 32nd St. announced today that it has become the first hospital in Austin to join the Texas Cord Blood Bank’s collection program. The program is part of the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center, a not-for-profit community blood center based in San Antonio. It distributes the cord blood, which is rich in making blood-making cells, to individuals who can benefit.
Some businesses bank cord blood for babies who might need it later, but the Texas Cord Blood Bank is a public program; it does not set the blood aside for its donors.
Cord blood can be used as an alternative to bone marrow transplants to treat such cancers as leukemia and lymphoma, St. David’s said.
There is no cost to those who donate cord blood at St. David’s, but expectant mothers need to let their doctors know their wishes.
“Prior to the launch of this new program, parents often opted not to donate their baby’s cord blood because the process was costly and time-consuming,” Laraine McIntyre, director of women’s services at St. David’s, said.
Other St. David’s hospitals are considering joining the cord bank partnership, officials said.
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February 8, 2011
Blood donors: Get a free homemade heart necklace
W.R. “Robby” Anderson of Austin came up with a novel way to celebrate his 42nd anniversary on Valentine’s Day.
He made and donated necklaces, virtually all emblazoned with or shaped as a heart, to the Blood and Tissue and Center of Central Texas. Two-hundred-and-forty-five of them. They will be given away to blood donors Friday through Monday.
“I have a beautiful wife and wonderful family,” Anderson said. “This is my way of giving back a little bit, plus making sure I get blood when I need it.”
Anderson, 63, is an artist and regular blood donor. He hopes his gift will “get one person to donate blood.”
All of the necklaces are hand-painted and made of polymer clay, which turns hard when fired. They will be available during regular blood donation hours, Friday through Monday, at the center’s main location, 4300 N. Lamar Blvd., as long as supplies last.
“We’ve had a great response, with people re-scheduling appointments to get them,” said Andrea Huff, promotions manager at the blood center.
Anderson said he’s thrilled to hear it. Giving, he said, is one of life’s great pleasures.
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July 15, 2010
Blood drives offer chances to help hospitals, win gift cards, get freebies
Scott & White’s Blood Center is holding blood drives this month in Williamson County with free giveaways and a chance to win a $500 gift card to help supply its hospital in Round Rock, officials said.
The Blood Center of Central Texas also is encouraging donations at its blood centers and mobile drives by offering a chance to win a $1,000 Simon Malls Visa card through Aug. 31.
Scott & White’s next blood drive this month is Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at its Cedar Park Clinic, 900 Quest Parkway. Two days later, the Georgetown Recreation Center will host a blood drive on July 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1003 N. Austin Ave.
Donors will receive a six-pack cooler/lunch bag, a koozie, 12 wings from Buffalo Wild Wings and the chance to win a $500 gift card of their choice donated by area Lion’s Clubs, a Scott & White spokeswoman said.
Blood donations to Scott & White supply its hospitals in Round Rock and Temple, said Regina Phinney, manager of donor recruitment for the blood donor center.
The Blood Center of Central Texas, which is a community blood bank, supplies 37 hospitals, surgery centers and other facilities in a 10-county region, said Jen Winkler, director of marketing for the blood center.
The blood center is in the midst of its 3rd Annual Boots Vs. Badges competition in which local firefighters and police officers compete to donate the most blood. The competition ends Saturday, and at 9:30 a.m. Monday, a ceremony will be held the center’s headquarters, 4300 N. Lamar Blvd., to award a trophy to the winning team.
Whole blood donor weight requirements at the two centers differ. At Scott & White donors must weigh at least 110 pounds; at the Blood Center of Central Texas, they must weigh at least 123.
For more information or to schedule an appointment with Scott & White, call 254-724-HERO (4376) or 877-724-HERO (4376). At the Blood Center of Central Texas, call 206-1266 or book an appointment online.
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February 12, 2010
Rock, roll and give blood Saturday
The 22nd Annual KLBJ (93.7 FM) Rock N’ Roll Up Your Sleeve Blood Drive is Saturday, so here’s a chance to donate blood, hear some music and receive a giveaway from the radio station.
The event is being hosted by Sherlock’s Baker Street Pub and Grill, 9012 Research Blvd., from noon to 4 p.m. KLBJ is offering giveaways at the pub and to donors who show up at any of the Blood Center of Central Texas locations that are open on Saturday, according to the blood center.
To donate, a person must be at least 17 years of age, weigh at least 123 pounds and be in generally good health. Donors should know their Social Security number. The process takes about 45 minutes to one hour.
For more information, call the blood center or visit the Web site.
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February 9, 2010
Weight requirements for blood donors go up in Central Texas
If you struggled to weigh 110 pounds to donate blood at the Blood Center of Central Texas, you better crack open the Girl Scout cookies. And you better eat the whole box.
The minimum weight for all whole blood donors is now 123 pounds, according to center spokeswoman Cindy Rowe. The reason? The center started using larger collection bags last month that hold about three tablespoons more of blood, Rowe said. They evidently don’t want people who are too small getting woozy from donating.
For people who donate platelets, the minimum weight at the center remains 110 pounds.
Some other centers also are using the larger bags, she said. I called to ask which ones. A few other sites I checked at random still list 110 pounds as the minimum weight, such as the Houston/Galveston blood center. I also wonder how many donors the local center might lose because of the bigger bags. I’m waiting to hear back on my questions, and we will publish a more detailed story in the print edition.
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May 19, 2009
Blood center opens first South Austin location; sets party
Residents in the South Austin area will no longer have as far to travel to donate blood.
The Blood Center of Central Texas has opened its fifth location, the South Austin Donor Center at Southpark Meadows, 9500 Interstate 35 South, Building L, Suite 800.
The center is expected to serve people in South Austin, Kyle, Buda and the surrounding area, which has been growing rapidly, blood center officials said.
A grand opening celebration will be held May 27 through June 13. Donors will be entered to win a gift basket that includes a $250 Wal-Mart gift card. The drawing will be held June 16. People do not need to be present to win.
The new center is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
Blood donors must be at least 17, weigh 110 or more and be in generally good health. The process takes about 45 minutes to an hour, and people can make an appointment online or by calling 206-1266.
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December 4, 2008
Round Rock woman makes poignant gift: 25 gallons of blood
Back in 1990, Jan MacKay was young, single and making $6 an hour when the promise of a free donut at the Blood Center of Central Texas was enough to lure her to donate her first pint of blood.
“I was poor and I was hungry,” said MacKay, now 42, married and a mother of two.
But she quickly got hooked, she said. She was inspired by her dad, an avid blood donor. And she had an unforgettable experience at the center about 15 years ago that motivates her still.
This morning marks MacKay’s 200th donation, making her a 25-gallon blood donor. She is expected to be recognized in a proclamation tonight by the city council in Round Rock, where she lives.
MacKay isn’t the Austin area’s biggest blood donor or the longest-tenured. Some people have given as many as 40 gallons and a few have given 50. But MacKay has made her donations faster than most, said Nicolette Abernathy, the blood center’s community relations manager.
It normally would take about 33 years to donate 25 gallons of blood, Abernathy said. But MacKay did it in half that time — with two years off to have her kids — by regularly donating platelets, in addition to occasional whole blood donations.
When donating platelets, a process called apheresis, the red cells are immediately returned to the body, making it possible for a person to give several times a month instead of once every two months for whole blood. The donation process takes longer than giving whole blood. And MacKay, who works full-time as the licensing coordinator for a security company and hates to drive, often makes the trip from Round Rock to the blood center’s headquarters on Lamar Boulevard a few times a month because the center’s Round Rock and Georgetown branches don’t have apheresis machines. She says the people at the Austin center are so kind to her that they’re like family, and she considers the drive worth the sacrifice.
Early on in her blood donating “career,” she said, she got interested in platelet donation because she believed she could help the community more that way. She learned at the center that when hospitals were in dire need of platelets — which are critical for cancer and chemotherapy patients — the blood bank might have to use numerous pints of whole blood to get enough platelets to equal one bag of platelets.
And then something unexpected happened.
“During my second or third platelet donation I was sitting back in the chair and… there was a movie on,” MacKay recalled. “They came over and put a sticker on the bag that said, ‘stat.’ I said, ‘What is that for?’ They said, ‘You match up with a patient at the Children’s Hospital and they’ll have your product in 24 hours.’ In my mind I had the picture of a child with cancer getting my blood in 24 hours. You donate and you don’t think about the user, but that day it really hit home for me. My blood is going to save a child with cancer.”
That feeling of the importance of donating blood hit her again when her longtime donor father was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1997. He needed platelets, and the community in the Houston area where he lived responded. He died in July 1998, but when MacKay gives blood she thinks about him — “my own personal memorial to my dad” — and the child who needed her gift so badly all those years ago.
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