Return to Pointer View home page December 9,  2005

Keller earns national award for blood donation

Story and photo by Kathy Eastwood
Staff Writer

Keller Army Community Hospital received an award Oct. 18 for outstanding achievement in blood donations for 2005. Mary Mandia, KACH blood drive coordinator, accepted the award from the American Association of Blood Banks during a ceremony in Seattle.

“It was a great experience and a wonderful award for the corps,” she said.

Colonel Stephen Beardsley, director of the Army Blood Program in Falls Church, Va., said West Point is an excellent resource for blood donors because of the cadets, community members and employees who support the blood drives.

“It’s a well-deserved award because generally, you may get 5 percent of the community to come out to donate,” he added. “Here, about 75 percent of the Corps of Cadets comes out to help.”

Keller Hospital collected more than 6,000 units of blood during the year at three blood drives and that number does not include platelets, said Lt. Col. Richard Gonzales, branch chief of blood banking and hematology at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

The Armed Services Blood Program returned to the U.S. Military Academy Monday through Thursday for the annual Winter blood drive.

“The goal is to collect more than 2,200 units of blood over this short time period,” said Capt. Grace Toro, chief, North Atlantic Regional Medical Center Donor Operations at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C.

ASBP was here last year and collected more than 1,600 units.

This Army specific blood drive sees more than 80 percent of the blood donated going to Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We have two planes a day coming into Stewart Airport that will fly the blood to Fort Knox, Ky., and within a week the blood will be flown to Iraq,” Gonzales said.

“People don’t realize that by donating just one pint of blood, they can save three lives,” he added.  “From one pint, we can use the red cells, whole blood or plasma.”

The platelets will be donated to WRAMC according to Louisa Duffy of the N.Y. Blood Center.

“Platelets are great for amputees, cancer victims and burn victims and are generally donated to military treatment centers,” she said.