HISTORY Why add a new community bloodmobile?

HISTORY
Lane Memorial Blood Bank
purchased its first bloodmobile
in 1961, a 1-bed Silver Stream trailer.
Since then, we have conducted
our mobile operations
with a single-vehicle fleet.
A 3-bed Cabana
was launched in 1972,
serving the community
until 1989.
A generous financial donor
with roots in Lane County
has offered a $200,000
challenge grant
toward the purchase
of a new community
bloodmobile.
We are asking businesses
and community members
from Lane, Douglas and
Jackson counties
to meet the challenge
by funding the additional
$200,000 for our mobile
program. Reaching
our goal of $400,000 will
help Lane Blood Center
collect more lifesaving
blood in our community.
Advancing health, shaping
the future of transfusion
and transplantation medicine.
Saving lives, through research,
innovation, education and
excellence in blood, medical
and laboratory services,
in partnership with
our community.
Why add a new community bloodmobile?
For more information about
the Lane Blood Center
Bloodmobile Campaign,
please contact:
Doug Engel,
Regional Director
A 3-bed Kourtney Star
began service in 1989.
For 54 years,
Lane Blood Center has
been our community’s only
nonprofit
blood center.
541-484-9112 x 101
Chelsie Wong,
Being solely responsible
Mobile Recruitment Supervisor
for providing blood and
541-484-9112 x 703
blood componentsto all
Lane & Douglas County
Our current bloodmobile,
a 4-bed Blue Bird, was
purchased in 2000 and has traveled over 192,000 miles. Finding
time for routine maintenance on
this vehicle is challenging with
our robust blood drive schedule.
hospitals, we stand ready
to provide a safe, ample
blood supply as part of the
2211 Willamette Street
Eugene, OR 97405
local health care network.
Lane Blood Center’s bloodmobile has served us well for many years, but
on its own can no longer meet community needs. With a new vehicle we
can do much more for the health of our region. The addition of a second
vehicle would allow Lane Blood Center to better meet the high demand for
mobile drives by serving additional rural locations and the numerous
organizations and employers in Lane County who are interested in hosting
drives. Because our current mobile is constantly in use, it is difficult to
accommodate potential hosts.
•Almost half of all blood donations in Lane County are collected
on mobile drives
•With a second bloodmobile, we can schedule approximately 250 more drives per year, and collect an additional 10,000 units of blood
It is vital for our bloodmobiles to be convenient and welcoming places for
donors, and many local businesses and organizations are committed to
maintaining the community’s blood supply. When we make blood collections
more convenient and visible, we can recruit and keep more blood donors.
A larger, better-equipped collection vehicle will improve service and allow us to
accommodate additional volunteer donors who generously give blood in their
neighborhoods or where they work, worship and attend school.
CURRENT SITUATION
“Mobile blood
collection vehicles
are a vital community
asset. Lane Blood Center
needs our support more
than ever before.”
Lynn Frohnmayer, MSW
Co-founder,
Fanconi Anemia
Research Fund
A REASON TO BE THANKFUL
Ordinary People, Extraordinary Gifts
A Grateful Blood Recipient Shares His Story
Almost half of Lane Blood Center’s whole blood
collections are made on the existing self-contained
donor bus. Our visibility in the community continues
to increase through targeted marketing and
public-awareness campaigns. Additionally, we have
restructured our donor recruiting strategy to reach
out more actively to businesses and organizations
whose leadership is committed to maintaining
our community’s vital blood supply. This has had
a positive effect on blood donations and has
created additional interest in scheduling blood drives
to the extent that new organizations wishing to schedule a blood drive may wait
up to 6 months for an opening in the schedule.
During the Thanksgiving weekend of 2000, Ed St. Clair was suffering with
severe back and abdominal pain. He was in need of immediate medical
assistance. Knowing it would be a long wait for an ambulance in the rural area
where they lived, his wife Adrienne drove him to the fire station in South Eugene.
From there, he was transported to Sacred Heart Medical Center.
The rapidly responding medical team diagnosed Ed’s
condition as an aortic aneurysm on the verge of rupture –
a life-threatening health crisis. The bulging aneurysm was
detected on the largest blood vessel in the human body. This
artery delivers blood from the heart directly to the
vital organs. If it bursts, the odds of survival are only 6%.
Half of those rare survivors become paralyzed permanently
as a result of nerve damage from the lack of oxygenated
blood flowing throughout the body.
Ed was stabilized to prepare him for the surgery to repair the damaged aorta.
Vascular specialist Dr. David DeHass, MD and thoracic surgeon
Dr. David Duke, MD were out of town for the holiday but were called back
to perform the delicate operation. As he waited for the doctors to return to
Eugene, the situation became more critical as the chronic inflammation from
Ed’s rheumatoid arthritis allowed blood to leak from the aneurism in his chest.
After a terrifying and seemingly endless 24 hours, the operation began in hopes
that Ed’s life could be saved.
During the 9-hour procedure,
the expert surgical team grafted
a tube of dacron polyester fabric
into the damaged section of Ed’s
aorta. The procedure successfully repaired the blood vessel and
allowed Ed’s circulatory system to
begin recovering.
Within the span of one
day, Ed received 65 units of
A positive blood. Thanks to the generous donors at Lane Memorial Blood Bank
(now Lane Blood Center), that blood was available right here in our community. “Without the blood, there would have been no point in doing the surgery,”
Ed said. “Blood was an essential component of the surgery.” Today Ed suffers
no ill-effects from the ordeal, and has continued to donate blood whenever
possible. He jokes, “I had to miss my appointment to donate blood at Lane
Memorial Blood Bank the Monday after the surgery, though.”
We now have more opportunities to schedule blood drives than we
can currently accommodate in a timely way. The bloodmobile schedule is
filled 5-6 days per week from mid-September through May, and some
organizations wishing to advocate for
blood donation are unable to partner
with us. This trend has been on the increase for several years. At some points
the schedule is filled to capacity with
recurring blood drives, leaving no room
for new organizations to schedule;
new businesses can only be scheduled
at the expense of existing business
sponsorships. We may even have to
consider dropping some less productive blood drives to schedule new sponsors. Any expansion to collect blood in
Douglas County will be challenging given the current solid booking.
Lane
Blood
Center’s
existing
blood
donor
coach is 14 years old. This
reliable vehicle is expected
to have many functional
years of service remaining,
but if our only coach is in the
repair shop for a more
than a day, operations
suffer in several areas
including collections and relationships with sponsors and donors. Over the past
year, unanticipated mechanical problems have forced the cancellation of several
vital blood drives.
This is why your financial contribution is so important!
Every 33 minutes,
a Lane County patient requires a transfusion
and ultimately learns just how crucial
an adequate blood supply is to our community
“Lane Blood Center’s
mobile operations
provide one of the most
essential services
in our communities ensuring a safe, reliable
blood supply for all.”
Jay Bozievich
West Lane County
Commissioner