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Spotlight: Blood Donor Center

Susan Moretti makes a platelet donation.

here is a giant bear sitting inside the Children’s Hospital Boston Blood Donor Center. Perhaps you’ve seen him as you’ve walked up the main staircase. “Barnesy the Noble Blood Donor” is just one of many ways the center tries to lure potential donors inside to help the many patients who receive blood products at CHB.

“Did you know that only 5 percent of the eligible population donates blood?” says Robin Willis, Blood Donor Center manager, who says the most common reason people give for not donating is that they weren’t asked. “Consider yourself asked,” she adds, referencing the tagline for a series of American Red Cross ads the center has used to bring in donors during the summer months, when donations tend to decrease.

Preparing for the worst during the DNC, the Donor Center began heavily recruiting staff for donations, and the results were stunning. Of donations collected that week, 43.6 percent were from staff, up from an average of 15 percent during normal weeks.

Since January 2004, they have collected almost 6,000 units of blood and more than 1,200 units of apheresis platelets. On any given day, they try to keep 200 to 300 units available.

The Blood Donor Center offers a variety of incentives to get people to donate, including T-shirts, mugs, tote bags and free one-day parking passes at a Children’s garage. On Tuesdays you can even snag a free slice of pizza.

For many donors, it’s a way to give back to the hospital and directly help save a child’s life. Children being treated for cancer, premature infants, accident victims, and children having surgery are among the many who need blood and platelets from donors of all types.

The CHB Blood Donor Center is an independent collection facility that “supplies 90 to 95 percent of all the blood products used by the hospital’s patients,” says Willis. It was established in 1958, primarily to provide fresh blood for the new field of open heart surgery.

According to Willis, the busiest donation times are from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., but if you make an appointment you can basically skip the waiting time. “We encourage people to call ahead,” she adds.

Whole blood donations take about 30 minutes and can help as many as four children. The blood is separated into components of red blood cells, platelets and plasma, and children are given just the products they need, maximizing each donation.

Platelets, the blood components that cause clotting, are used primarily in the treatment of patients with leukemia. These donations take 90 minutes and can be made every two weeks. Unlike red cells that can be stored fresh for 30 to 40 days, platelets are only good for five days.

“You can never really have a comfort zone when it comes to an adequate blood supply. It can deplete rapidly,” says Willis.

Call the CHB Blood Donor Center at ext. 5-6677 for more information or to set up an appointment. Additional information from the American Association of Blood Banks is available at www.aabb.org.