UTMB Blood Donor Center relocates

The UTMB Blood Donor Center celebrated its grand opening at a brand new location near the main lobby of John Sealy Hospital on Feb. 5. Members of the Galveston Chamber of Commerce joined UTMB leaders for a ribbon cutting and tour of the donor center, which supplies blood for patients at UTMB and Shriners Burns Hospital.

Donor Recruiter Laurie Hartrick says she hopes the more convenient location will lead to an increase in donations throughout the year.

“Since Hurricane Ike, the blood center changed locations a few times. Most recently, it was on the fifth floor of the hospital and could be difficult to find,” she said. “Since we opened this new location on the first floor in December, we have already seen an uptick in donations just because it is much more visible and people know we are here.”

Before the hurricane in 2008, the donor center collected more than 8,000 donations a year. Post-Ike, donations dropped off and the center has been working to ramp up on-campus donations ever since.

“Last year, about 4,300 donations were successfully collected, but that’s only half of what patients at UTMB need,” says Hartrick. “About 20% of these collections came from UTMB employees. For those who are already working on campus, I encourage you to stop by and donate. There’s not much else you can do to help save the lives of up to three people in under an hour.”

Dr. Michael Laposata, UTMB’s chairman of pathology, says collecting as many units of blood as possible on-campus results in a better product at a far less cost to the institution.

“Units that we’re not able to collect on campus, we need to purchase from outside sources, which comes at a cost,” he said. “If we can get more donations here at UTMB, we can process the blood ourselves, using our own high-quality blood component preparation system, under our own watchful eyes. Overall, it is safer and more economical.”

There are four types of transfusable components that can be derived from blood: red cells, platelets, plasma and cryoprecipitate. Typically, two or three of these are produced from a pint of donated whole blood, which is why each donation can help save up to three lives.

Jeri Jaquis, an assistant professor in UTMB’s School of Nursing, attended the grand opening event. She has been donating blood on campus for more than 20 years, which means she has potentially helped save 360 lives.

“I try and donate as often as I can, which is every eight weeks. I write it down and put it on my calendar so I never skip an opportunity to help others,” she said. “Plus, you get a fun thank-you gift like a t-shirt every time you donate. I have received so many shirts from donating blood over the years, I think I’m going to make them into a quilt.”

Jaquis also encourages her nursing students to take part. Her most memorable donation story is from a UTMB blood drive a few years ago when she got 10 of her students to join her at the front of the donor line.

“It was the first time any of them had donated blood and it was a really positive experience. They all told me afterwards that it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be and they proudly showed off their bandaged arms.”

Now that Jaquis has seen how convenient the new location is, she says she hopes to motivate more students to take time out of their day and donate blood.

Located at 1.120 John Sealy Towers, the UTMB Blood Center has expanded its hours during the week and is now open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information on donating blood at UTMB, stop by the center during regular hours or call 409-772-4861.