Making house calls
By Bobbi Mlynar
Originally published 02:19 p.m., February 26, 2008
Updated 02:19 p.m., February 26, 2008
Staff at the Flint Hills Community Health Center filled the schedule Monday for a drive to help boost blood supplies here.
The drive, a cooperative effort of the health center and the local chapter of the American Red Cross, brought in much-needed blood to be used in Emporia or throughout Kansas. It all was part of a new layer of blood drives that emphasizes the “mobile” in Bloodmobile.
“We call those Express Blood Drives,” said Bev Kerbs, who is in charge of blood donations for the Emporia area. “There’s companies that have been doing them for several years. I just need to go out and try to find some more.”
The express blood drives bring Red Cross nurses to the donors on-site.
The concept is simple and, for larger companies and organizations, it increases the number of blood donors and gets them back on the job faster than driving to an outside location.
“We’ve never had one here,” said Lori Torres, a registered nurse who organized the drive at the health center. “It’s a lot easier; do it while you’re at work.”
The units of blood given Monday can be used until early April.
“It has a shelf life of 46 days,” said Red Cross Team Leader Sharon Fowler of Manhattan.
Most donors have no problem giving blood, she said, although a feeling of lightheadedness is not unusual.
“A lot of people get light-headed because of not eating,” Fowler said.
“We want you to eat,” said Fowler’s partner, Amanda Brooks. “Eat lots and lots.”
After donating and a few minutes of rest, team members recommended eating a little before health center employees returned to work.
Emporia’s Red Cross provided snacks, like cookies and juice, for post-donation consumption, and the companies often bring in chips, fruits, and other snacks for their employees, although that is not mandatory, Kerbs said.
“All we ask of them is that they give us a space to set up and that they put a sign-up someplace, actually recruit the donors for us,” she said. “These small companies, we just set up in a conference room like we’re doing at Flint Hills.”
A minimum of 15 donors is required to hold an express blood drive.
So far, blood drives outside the traditional Lee Beran Recreation Center location have been held at: Detroit Diesel, Newman Regional Health, Menu Foods Midwest, Emporia High School’s StuCo drive, Emporia State University, Grace United Methodist Church, the Mental Health Center of East Central Kansas, Northern Heights High School, Olpe High School, and Hartford High School.
Express blood drives also have been held in the parking lots at Birch Telecom, Wal-Mart, and Staple’s.
For Monday’s donations, two Red Cross staff members set up two reclining “beds” in the Jones Conference Room, took medical histories of participants and then began drawing blood.
Blood donors need to be at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds, and must feel well the day the blood is drawn. Youngsters 16 years of age may give blood with signed parental consent on a form that can be obtained from the Internet at www.bloodgiveslife.com.
Donors receive T-shirts or mugs from the Red Cross for their participation.
Donors can give blood every 56 days.
Last year, Lyon County residents donated approximately 2,000 units of blood, Kerbs said.
“Emporia’s an awesome town for blood donations, I’ll tell you,” she added.
And it continued to be an “awesome town” on Monday at the health center.
Torres’s goal had been to recruit 20 center employees; with 23 donors, she overachieved that goal by 15 percent.
“It went great,” Torres said after the blood-drawing ended at 3 p.m. “Very, very efficient staff. It was a good experience for us for our first time, and I’m sure we’ll do it again. ... I think it was a big success.”