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Give a Service Member's Wound a Healing Start by Giving Platelets
By MCSN (SW) Orlando Ramos - Fleet Public Affairs Center, Pacific
July 21, 2006 - SAN DIEGO - Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) has a shortage of blood platelet donors due to large amounts of service members on overseas deployments.
Blood platelets are small cells that help blood clotting. When someone gets injured, platelets rush to the spot of the injury. Once there, they form a barrier and help the damaged organ or blood vessel stop bleeding, giving the body a chance to heal.
"I'm alive today because of the donation I received," said Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Nathaniel Leoncio, a patient at NMCSD. "Donating is very important, because it saves lives. If you were in a situation where you needed to receive a donation, you would realize how important it is, but it shouldn't have to come to that."
Platelets are important, because they help those who are sick or dying stay alive a little longer. By prolonging life, it opens up the possibilities for a form of treatment to work, a cure to be found or for a patient to manufacture his or her own platelets.
"There's nothing like donating; it's the only way I know that I can save someone's life," said Wendy Morra, blood platelet recruiter for NMCSD. "I just feel good knowing I'm helping."
Platelets do not cure diseases, but they do help people with serious illnesses such as leukemia, aplastic anemia, cancer and other diseases, in which, blood is affected. People who suffer from these conditions often need transfusions of platelets to help their blood clot. Due to chemotherapy or bone marrow malfunction, their bodies are unable to produce platelets.
NMCSD needs volunteers for plateletpheresis, a procedure, in which, platelets are taken from a healthy donor, so they may be transfused to seriously ill patients. It's an automated procedure, in which, approximately one tenth of the circulating platelets are collected, an amount easily spared by the donor and regenerated by the body in a day or two. A platelet collection takes less than two hours.
"All of the platelets and blood products we receive are strictly from military members, dependents and DOD employees; so, if we run out we have to purchase these products elsewhere," said Morra. "That's why it's important for us to get as many donors as possible."
Trima, which is a new automated blood component collection system, allows donors to safely provide combinations of red cells, platelets and plasma from a single donation. The process uses a sterile single-use needle and tubing set. The automated system separates and collects the most needed components and safely returns the remaining blood component back to you.
"Everyone who can [donate], should because we have such a critical need for platelets," said Lt. Cmdr. Roland Fahie, director of Western Area Blood Systems. "We support lots of troops in Iraq, as well as all DOD medical facilities on the West Coast. So, we need to have a constant flow of donors, especially since the shelf life of platelets is only five days."
NMCSD accepts donors Monday through Saturday by appointment from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. To get information about donating, contact Armed Services Blood Program Office at (703) 681-8024.
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