Archives for January 2010

Spotlight’s On: Megan Forrest - 2010 01 30

an interview with Megan Forrest, Community Service Representative at the Shasta Blood Center

BCP has many departments and hundreds of employees. Do you know the function of each department? Or the role of many of our staff members? Each month, we’ll spotlight a staff member or department. Last month we interviewed Peter Kite, Technical Operations Support Supervisor. This month, meet Megan Forrest!

What’s your job title? And what do you do?
I am the Community Service Representative for BCP’s Shasta Blood Center (SBC). I set up, organize and run all of the mobile blood drives for our center in Redding. A very important aspect of my job is building lasting relationships with blood drive coordinators and donors. I am responsible for keeping up with the demands of our scheduled blood drives and continually booking new ones. Our pursuit for new locations and donors is never complete. 

Describe your typical day at SBC
My typical day is filled with a variety of tasks. Daily I have a list of responsibilities that can include any of the following: contacting coordinators for upcoming blood drives, calling potential sites for meetings, working with the local media, managing relationships with sponsors, collaborating with high school and college students, approving flyers/mailings/promotions/emails/thank yous, confirming logistics, working closely with our Director Ellie Delgado, management and staff. Let’s just say there is never a dull moment!

What do you like best/most about your job?
Everything! My position with BCP, more than any other I’ve held, is so fulfilling. I really don’t mind getting up every morning. The aspect I like the best or most is my close relationship with all of the wonderful people. I am responsible for building lasting relationships with co-workers, coordinators, sponsors and donors all in the honor of saving someone’s life. It is simply amazing.

What are the challenges?
There are always challenges that present themselves. The biggest being logistics and education. It can be difficult at times to coordinate our mobile blood drives in regards to who, what, where, when and how. In the end though we always seem to make it work. Also challenging is the lack of knowledge the general population has about blood donation. Education is key in recruiting new blood donors whether it be clearing up misconceptions or just relaying the need for blood. These challenges can present issues but can be managed.

Anything else to add?
I love my job, my co-workers and the wonderful people out there saving lives! 

Robots Carry Weight - and Blood Components - at Centers - 2010 01 26

By Elissa Fuchs, AABB Staff Writer

Tug makes his way across the halls of the University of California-San Francisco Hospital easily, transporting blood for transfusions. He quickly goes up and down elevators and through doorways with his products safely guarded. When he reaches his destination, he drops off the contents and heads back to the laboratory to wait for his next assignment…Tug is not your traditional blood banking employee. For one, he is not exactly a person. He is actually a member of the robot species.

“The robot fills in the gaps at our center because we have a very busy service and don’t have pneumatic tubes to all locations” Delene Johnson, former BCP employee and current Transfusion Service Supervisor at UCSF, said. “It takes the burden off our staff, especially at night and on the weekends, when there are not as many employees here.”...

At Johnson’s facility, the laboratory staff load Tug with blood products, select a preprogrammed destination on a computer touch screen, and press the robot’s green “go” button. Just like that, the machine is on its way to a medical wing of the hospital. When it reaches its destination, the robot verbally announces its arrival, at which point personnel must enter an electronic code to unlock the cart cabinet and access the contents. As with accepting components from a human deliverer, staffers must sign to confirm the blood products were received; the robot then returns the signed document to the laboratory…

Even though each robot came with a $25,000 price tag, Gifford Lum, MD, the blood bank director at the Boston VA, insisted that they are very cost-effective, saving the facility money on personnel time. Lum and San Francisco’s Johnson agree that the robots are easy to use, and Lum is encouraging health care workers in nearby facilities to adopt this product.

“We’ve really had a good experience with the robots,” he said. “They never tire or call in sick.”

Robots’ Other Applications

Facilities are branching out and using robots for other aspects of blood banking and transfusion medicine besides carrying components. In Korea, for example, scientists at the Pohang University of Science and Technology developed a robot that could perform almost 100 different types of tests on blood. In the U.K., a robot known as the “Bloodbot” has been designed to draw blood samples from humans, although it is still in the experimental stages.

Three robots are being used to sort blood samples at the Red Cross Plasma Sample Management Facility in Birmingham, Alabama…

“Using a robot has definite advantages. Its benefits include reducing human handling of potentially hazardous specimens, improving productivity and eliminating mistakes,” said Cynthia McCrorie, director of plasma sample management at the Red Cross. “It takes the human error part out of the equation. The repetitive nature of manual sorting would be pretty overwhelming for a person.”

This article was excerpted from AABB News.

Image from Boxed Thrills.