Archives for September 2010

Easter Baskets and Smart Cars - 2010 09 29

The only other thing she’d ever won was an Easter basket. Which, incidentally, got eaten by her dog.

“I was 11 and won it at my father’s rotary club,” said Christie Friday, 41. “I had placed it on top of the dryer and when we came home, it was gone.”

This past September, Christie was the lucky winner of another prize, which although inedible we hope she’ll get to keep around and enjoy – a brand new Smart Car Passion Coupe!

In addition to the cause of saving lives, BCP gave donors another reason to donate blood this past summer. All blood donors who gave blood in July and August were entered in to the “Give blood. Get smart.” promotion to win a brand new car.

This was BCP’s second time giving away a Smart Car to a lucky blood donor. More than 22,000 people donated blood during the promotion and a finalist was randomly chosen each week. But there could only be one lucky winner!

On Wednesday, September 15th, all eight finalists eagerly gathered at BCP’s headquarters in San Francisco. Each picked a random key from a basket and the crowd waited in anticipation as they took turns trying their key in the ignition. When Christie, the sixth finalist, tried her key, the engine came to life and she was pronounced the winner! Christie, a Napa resident and working mother of three who believes that the world should be about helping people, has been a regular blood donor since high school.

“I’m totally shocked!” said Christie, who says there’s no reason why everyone shouldn’t donate blood. “It’s so surreal!”

The other seven finalists did not walk away empty-handed as they all received $100 gas cards.

Congratulations to Christie for being our Smart Car winner! And thanks to all our donors who continue to do the smart thing by donating blood!

Here’s video of Christie winning!

My Summer Vacation - 2010 09 24

by Jean Purcelli, Reference Lab Technologist

In July, I spent 12 days in the Republic of Moldova.  I was a volunteer member with the NPO, Global Healing.  Global Healing donates medical equipment and provides educational material and instruction to emerging countries, to update their medical practices.  Blood Centers of the Pacific (BCP) has made donations of equipment in the past to Global Healing and had asked Dr. Hirschler if she knew of anyone who could teach antibody identification. My job was to instruct laboratory staff how to identify red cell antibodies to make transfusions safer for their patients.

Moldova is the poorest country in Europe and is situated between Ukraine and Romania, not to be confused with a region of Romania called Moldavia.  Moldovans are essentially Romanians and speak Romanian and Russian.  About 20 percent of the population is Russian with another smaller minority of ethnic Hungarians.

Our team consisted of the Project Manager from Global Healing who speaks Russian, a QA/QC CLS* recently retired from Eureka Blood Bank, a CLS coag specialist from UC Davis, and an MD from Duke University.  We all worked independently and only saw one another for breakfast and dinner. I had a translator at all times and my slides had been translated into Romanian.  The laboratory staff were well-educated, with advanced degrees and two years of medical school.  They were highly-motivated and anxious to learn new methods and adapt to international standards.

In a country of 3.8 million, they draw 100,000 units of whole blood a year, but compared to the United States, they transfuse very few red cells.  They transfuse mostly plasma and plasma derivatives.  Currently, the hospitals in Moldova do not perform tests to detect red cell antibodies and there are no Immunohematology Reference Laboratories.  When a patient is transfused with red cells, a physician performs a bedside ABO and Rh confirmation and stays with the patient throughout the procedure to observe any reactions.  This MD is called a “transfusiologist”  and the bedside observation is called an in vivo crossmatch.

My experience was very interesting and positive. On the last day, the lab staff gave me a large bouquet of flowers, I almost cried! Global Healing invited us to return in March 2011, and although we were extremely busy, exhausted and anxious to get home, everyone on the team has already committed to return!

Credit to Bob LaLonde of the Eureka Blood Bank

* Clinical Laboratory Scientist