Fort Bliss Monitor

Bliss needs all types of blood

Carmen Dietrich-Williams
Special to The Monitor

You may not know it, but somebody needs you. More specifically, they need you to give blood to save lives. All types of blood donors are needed every day and on a regular basis. While many believe that the military has a sufficient supply of blood on hands at all times, this isn’t always true. The military spends a lot of money to purchase blood and blood products from the civilian sector on a regular basis.

AR 40-3, Para 5-2: The Army is charged with the responsibility of providing, from its own resources, the blood requirements for all patients receiving care in its military medical treatment facilities and on the battlefield.
Different blood components play different roles in saving lives. Red blood cells carry oxygen, platelets help control bleeding and plasma carries blood cells, nutrients and critical proteins that enable platelets to clot. Premature infants, patients with lupus or sickle cell anemia, troops wounded in combat, burn victims, transplant patients and others often need all of these components.

When blood is donated it can be split into three main components – red blood cells, platelets and plasma. Many people know that Type O Neg blood is considered the universal donor because Type O Neg red blood cells can be given to recipients of any blood type. What many people do not know is that Type AB is the universal donor for plasma.

The blood that is donated doesn’t last forever. The shelf life for blood and its components vary. Red blood bells have a shelf life of 42 days, platelets have five days, and plasma with the longest shelf life is one year. Plasma is the only product with the longest shelf life, because once it is processed and tested it gets frozen.
This is why it is important to have blood donations on a regular basis.

Blood in, blood out: life giving fluid transport

Staff Sgt. C. Todd Lopez
379th AEW Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA - When generals plan for war, they know they're going to need bombs, bullets and beds. One thing they hope they don't need, but definitely want on hand, is blood. Blood for most of United States Central Command Air Forces' area of responsibility is distributed by the 379th Expeditionary Medical Group Blood Transshipment Center. The facility is really just a K-Span structure with a walk-in cooler and a deep freeze, but the center receives from the United States all the blood that's going to be distributed in the AOR, said 1st Lt. Dan Vince Cruz, the lab officer at the facility.

"We orchestrate the receipt, storage and distribution of blood products in the AOR," said Cruz.

The center regularly ships blood to both Balad and Talill in Iraq, to Kuwait, to Djibouti and to other areas in the AOR. The BTC doesn't really store whole blood, the kind drawn straight out of a donor's arm. Instead, the center stores "packed red cells," a condensed version of blood, with most of the liquid removed. The reason blood is condensed is that few people need a transfusion of "whole blood," Cruz said. "Nobody uses whole blood," he said. "What people do need depends on the injury, however. If somebody is bleeding out a whole bunch, you want to give them the red blood cells, because that is the oxygen carrying component of blood. If you are oozing out blood and can't control bleeding, they may give you platelets. If you are a burn victim, they will give you plasma."

Blood comes from the flightline packed in boxes that haven't changed in design since the Korean War. The boxes help protect blood that may have to travel as many as 20 hours from the East Coast to get in theater. To ensure the safety of the supply, each box is equipped with a special indicator that permanently changes color if the contents ever go above a certain temperature.

"We get whole palettes of blood in from the flightline," Cruz said. "It's shipped from McGuire Air Force Base, and each box is packed with ice, so it's good for 48 hours. If the temperature ever goes out of range, the indicator will turn blue. That's how we know it's a bad shipment and that we have to get rid of it." During transit, blood must be stored at less than 10 C, Cruz said. During storage in his coolers, it must be held at less than 6 C.
When blood comes in to the center, it is already in the tiny plastic bags that would hang from an IV rack as it is put into a patient. Each unit of blood is about 450 milliliters. Cruz said the BTC can store about 3,000 units of blood, meaning the facility has nearly a 360 gallon capacity. Each unit of blood comes with numerous barcodes attached. One barcode tracks when the blood was made, another tells where it came from, yet another tells the blood type. Each code on each unit is scanned during in-processing. The numbers go into a computer that is part of a network called the Theater Defense Blood Standard System.



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	February 24, 2005

	Bliss needs all types of blood Carmen Dietrich-Williams Special to The Monitor You may not know it, but somebody needs you. More specifically, they need you to give blood to save lives. All types of blood donors are needed every day and on a regular basis. While many believe that the military has a sufficient supply of blood on hands at all times, this isn’t always true. The military spends a lot of money to purchase blood and blood products from the civilian sector on a regular basis. AR 40-3, Para 5-2: The Army is charged with the responsibility of providing, from its own resources, the blood requirements for all patients receiving care in its military medical treatment facilities and on the battlefield. Different blood components play different roles in saving lives. Red blood cells carry oxygen, platelets help control bleeding and plasma carries blood cells, nutrients and critical proteins that enable platelets to clot. Premature infants, patients with lupus or sickle cell anemia, troops wounded in combat, burn victims, transplant patients and others often need all of these components. When blood is donated it can be split into three main components – red blood cells, platelets and plasma. Many people know that Type O Neg blood is considered the universal donor because Type O Neg red blood cells can be given to recipients of any blood type. What many people do not know is that Type AB is the universal donor for plasma. The blood that is donated doesn’t last forever. The shelf life for blood and its components vary. Red blood bells have a shelf life of 42 days, platelets have five days, and plasma with the longest shelf life is one year. Plasma is the only product with the longest shelf life, because once it is processed and tested it gets frozen. This is why it is important to have blood donations on a regular basis. Blood in, blood out: life giving fluid transport Staff Sgt. C. Todd Lopez 379th AEW Public Affairs SOUTHWEST ASIA - When generals plan for war, they know they're going to need bombs, bullets and beds. One thing they hope they don't need, but definitely want on hand, is blood. Blood for most of United States Central Command Air Forces' area of responsibility is distributed by the 379th Expeditionary Medical Group Blood Transshipment Center. The facility is really just a K-Span structure with a walk-in cooler and a deep freeze, but the center receives from the United States all the blood that's going to be distributed in the AOR, said 1st Lt. Dan Vince Cruz, the lab officer at the facility. "We orchestrate the receipt, storage and distribution of blood products in the AOR," said Cruz. The center regularly ships blood to both Balad and Talill in Iraq, to Kuwait, to Djibouti and to other areas in the AOR. The BTC doesn't really store whole blood, the kind drawn straight out of a donor's arm. Instead, the center stores "packed red cells," a condensed version of blood, with most of the liquid removed. The reason blood is condensed is that few people need a transfusion of "whole blood," Cruz said. "Nobody uses whole blood," he said. "What people do need depends on the injury, however. If somebody is bleeding out a whole bunch, you want to give them the red blood cells, because that is the oxygen carrying component of blood. If you are oozing out blood and can't control bleeding, they may give you platelets. If you are a burn victim, they will give you plasma." Blood comes from the flightline packed in boxes that haven't changed in design since the Korean War. The boxes help protect blood that may have to travel as many as 20 hours from the East Coast to get in theater. To ensure the safety of the supply, each box is equipped with a special indicator that permanently changes color if the contents ever go above a certain temperature. "We get whole palettes of blood in from the flightline," Cruz said. "It's shipped from McGuire Air Force Base, and each box is packed with ice, so it's good for 48 hours. If the temperature ever goes out of range, the indicator will turn blue. That's how we know it's a bad shipment and that we have to get rid of it." During transit, blood must be stored at less than 10 C, Cruz said. During storage in his coolers, it must be held at less than 6 C. When blood comes in to the center, it is already in the tiny plastic bags that would hang from an IV rack as it is put into a patient. Each unit of blood is about 450 milliliters. Cruz said the BTC can store about 3,000 units of blood, meaning the facility has nearly a 360 gallon capacity. Each unit of blood comes with numerous barcodes attached. One barcode tracks when the blood was made, another tells where it came from, yet another tells the blood type. Each code on each unit is scanned during in-processing. The numbers go into a computer that is part of a network called the Theater Defense Blood Standard System.
	Blood donor ineligibility
	Listed are the most common reasons for blood donor ineligibility. This criteria is based on directives from the Food and Drug Administration. • If you were stationed in, traveled to, or resided in the United Kingdom for three months or more from 1980 to 1996, you are deferred indefinitely. • If you received a blood transfusion in the United Kingdom from 1980 to present, you are deferred indefinitely. • If you were stationed in, traveled to, or resided in Europe for six months or more from 1980 to 1996, you are deferred indefinitely. • If you were stationed in, traveled to, or resided in Europe for five years or more from Jan. 1, 1997 to present, you are deferred indefinitely. • If you visited a malaria endemic area, with or without taking chemo prophylaxis within the past 12 months, you are deferred for 12 months after departing the area. • If you received a tattoo or piercing within the past year (other than ear piercing done in a sterile manner), you are deferred for one year from the date of the procedure. • If you were in Korea, North of Seoul, for a period of less than five consecutive years, you are deferred for12 months after departing the area. • If you were in Korea, North of Seoul, for a period of five years or more, you are deferred for three years after departing the area. • If you donated whole blood within the past 56 days, you are deferred for 56 days from the date of your donation. • If you received vaccination for oral typhoid, mumps, oral polio, or yellow fever within the past two weeks, you are deferred for two weeks from the date of vaccination. • If you received vaccination for chicken pox, measles, mumps or rubella within the past four weeks, you are deferred for four weeks from the date of vaccination. • If you have been running a high fever within the past 48 - 72 hours, you are deferred for seven days from recovery. • If you received your smallpox vaccination, you are defer-red 21 days from the date of vaccination. • If you returned from Iraq you are deferred for one year after leaving Iraq. If you have questions about blood donor eligibility, contact us at 568-3365 or Carmen. Dietrich-Williams@cen. amedd.army.mil.