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May 10, 2008
LIFEMOBILE UNVEILED IN GLENNALLEN
ANCHORAGE, AK – The Blood Bank of Alaska is pleased
to announce the unveiling of our new LIFEmobile at the Glennallen
Copper River Basin Health & Safety Fair, May 10. The LIFEmobile
will visit the Health Fair on the final leg of its 5000 mile
journey across North America. The coach will be open to the
general public for viewing and questions from 9 a.m. until
noon.
For the past five months, L&S Custom Coaches in Hudson
Fla., have been customizing the new coach with screening rooms,
phlebotomy cots, a cantina area and artwork. Mat-Su Health
Foundation and the Safeway-Carrs Employee Giving Campaign
have made contributions to help offset the coach’s purchase
price of more than $200,000. Blood Bank of Alaska has allotted
a budget of $3000 for gas for the journey. The new coach is
a 2007 Blue Bird Bus. It is 40 feet long, has a 6 cylinder
Cummins 6.7 engine and a 60 gallon fuel tank.
LIFEmobile drivers Don Greening and Dallas Allen left Florida
April 30.
Throughout the course of the journey, they covered more than
5000 miles passing through Memphis, Little Rock, Tulsa, Omaha,
and Fargo, crossing the border into Canada in Minot, North
Dakota.
The coach will provide Blood Bank of Alaska to conduct more
blood drives throughout the state.
The coach’s inaugural blood drive will be held May 17
at the Northway Mall Red Robin for Armed Forces Appreciation
Day. This summer, the Lifemobile will appear in Seward, Fairbanks
and Wasilla, among other locations.
May 6, 2008
A QUILT TO REMEMBER
Troy Palmer has always been generous about giving his time
and blood to Blood Bank of Alaska, but April 16, he went a
step further. He translated his dedication to saving lives
into art.
Troy designed and donated a quilt for display at the Blood
Bank of Alaska Laurel location. The quilt consists of six
separate blankets from the Blood Bank of Alaska Hero Program.
In the program, donors receive 25 points per donation (with
a minimum four donations in a calendar year), which they then
redeem for merchandise. Troy’s reason for giving blood
is deeply personal.
"My wife’s mother died of breast cancer,"
Palmer said. "I never even got to meet her."
It took more than a year for Troy to donate enough times to
earn six blankets. The quilt itself was another year in the
making, requiring three people to complete. The burgundy quilt
measures 65 inches by 104 inches. It is double batted and
edged in ocean-gray fleece. The Blood Bank of Alaska logo
appears on the top panel. On the lower panel are the words,
“Donating saves lives.” Troy paid almost $500
out of pocket to have professional quilters help him realize
his design. Erin Rolfe of Wasilla helped with the piecing,
batting and appliqué. Jo Ann Gruber of Quilted Treasures
in Eagle River used both hand quilting and long-arm techniques
to complete the project.
Although Troy is no longer able to give blood, he fondly remembers
his time as a blood, plasma and platelet donor.
"At first I was a little hesitant about it," Troy
said. "But this became my down time."
He used his donation as a time to read, watch movies and enjoy
the company of Blood Bank of Alaska staff and donors.
"Some of the people who come in are hilarious,"
Troy said.
The quilt stands as a testament, not just to Troy’s
dedication, but to the Alaskans whose lives he’s saved
by giving blood. His wife Emily, a frequent donor, is among
the less than 7 percent of the population who can give blood
for babies. She said she is proud of her husband for his commitment
to saving lives.
The quilt will be displayed in the Blood Bank of Alaska Laurel
location.
May 3, 2008
BLOOD BROTHER
By MATT TUNSETH, Frontiersman
WASILLA — Ed Lamm is a bloody good man.
Lamm, a 64-year-old retired civil service mechanic from Wasilla,
stopped by the Wasilla branch of the Alaska Blood Bank Thursday
morning to make his 300th life-giving donation. Over the past
decade, Lamm has given 89 gallons of blood, making him the
most prolific donor in the state.
Blood Bank manager Jeremy Ferreira said Lamm exemplifies the
type of individual who’s the lifeblood of the organization.
"What keeps us going is our consistent donors,"
Ferreira said as technicians prepared to hook Lamm to a high-tech
Trima machine, which uses centrifuges to separate blood products
from whole blood.
Making Lamm’s donations more notable is the fact that,
for the past eight years, he’s given blood platelets,
which aid clotting and stop bleeding in the body. Platelets
are especially valuable because, unlike other blood products,
they can only be stored for a very short time.
"The hard thing with platelets is they only have a five-day
shelf life," Blood Bank CEO Jack Williams said.
Blood Bank technician Cynthia Watts said that because the
process of separating platelets from whole blood is much more
involved, Lamm’s donations take about an hour each.
She said a typical whole blood donation only takes about 15
minutes.
Lamm began donating blood in the early 1970s when he was working
at Elmendorf Air Force Base and, as “just something
to do,” he tagged along with a friend who was going
to give blood.
And he was hooked.
"One thing the Blood Bank will do, once they’ve
got their hook in you, they’ll call you up," Lamm
said as Watts sterilized his right arm and prepared to insert
the needle. "Somewhere along the line, instead of waiting
for a phone call I decided to just start going in."
That was about 10 years ago, and since then Lamm has been
returning to the Blood Bank about once every two weeks, showing
up early in the morning, sitting down in a chair and waiting
as the life-giving platelets are slowly extracted from his
blood. He started in Anchorage, where he moved in 1964 while
serving in the Air Force, then switched to Wasilla when he
moved to the Valley a year and a half ago.
For donating 89 gallons, Lamm was presented with a framed
certificate recognizing his achievement. The certificate was
handed to him by both Williams, the CEO, and Watts, who for
the past year and a half has been Lamm’s primary phlebotomist
(blood-taker), as well as his main conversation partner.
"I’ve gotten to know him pretty good," Watts
said.
At first, Watts said Lamm didn’t say much during his
appointments, which made her a bit nervous.
"I was always afraid I was gonna miss [Lamm’s vein],"
she said.
After a few sessions, though, she said Lamm’s good nature
set her at ease.
"I’m not scared of him anymore," she said
with a laugh.
Besides, Lamm said, the needle doesn’t really hurt that
much anyway.
"No more than a mosquito bite," he said.
While Lamm never set out to set any records for blood donation,
he said Thursday’s milestone is something he’ll
cherish.
"I think it’s something to be proud of," he
said.
Lamm said most of his friends probably don’t even know
about his gift for giving.
"I don’t promote it like I probably should,"
he said.
Watts said that’s fine with the Blood Bank staff. They’re
just happy to have such a willing and dependable donor.
"He leads by example," he said.
Lamm admitted his motives aren’t entirely selfless.
He said his wife won’t buy him chocolate milk at home,
and part of the reason he keeps coming back to the Wasilla
center is the free goodies he gets while he waits.
Center manager Ferreira said the Blood Bank is always looking
for new donors to step up like Lamm has. He pointed to a tote
board in the center’s office showing that for at least
two types of blood (types O-negative and A-negative), the
state is down to “condition red,” which means
there’s only a one-day supply available. Even with supplies
of more common blood types stable, he said one big accident
or emergency can rapidly draw down supplies.
"One major accident and some of these blood types my
slip into yellow or red," he said.
Ferreira said giving blood is safe, relatively painless and
can take as little as a half hour out of someone’s day.
Anyone in good health between the ages of 16 and 74 is eligible
to donate, though he did say that 16- and 17-year-olds must
have a parent’s permission.
"And we’ve got tons of juice and cookies,"
Ferreira added.
Some of the state’s best donors, Blood Bank Public Relations
Manager Jessica Golden reports, are teens.
"Last year, 16 percent of donations came from students,"
Golden said.
That includes the blood-giving-happy students at the Valley’s
Houston High, who last year managed to beat out all other
high schools in the state during a year-long blood drive challenge.
"They’ve just got some really energetic kids out
there," Jack Williams said.
As for Lamm, he said he has no plans to stop giving blood
any time soon. At age 64, he’s still got another decade
of giving ahead of him, and he intends to continue coming
back as long as the Blood Bank will let him.
"I don’t see any reason not to," he said.
To become a blood donor, people may stop by the Blood Bank
of Alaska’s Mat-Su Center, which is located in Suite
B-9 of the Lakeview Professional Building at 851 E. Westpoint
Drive in Wasilla. Hours of operation are Monday through Wednesday
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to
4 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Cynthia Watts said
drop-ins are welcome, although she said it’s not a bad
idea to make an appointment by calling 376-1195 to avoid having
to wait when the center is busy.
Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com
May 2, 2008
Wasilla blood donor cracks state record
89 GALLONS: Ed Lamm says donating is a way to give back to
community.
By ZAZ HOLLANDER, Anchorage
Daily News
zhollander@adn.com
WASILLA -- Ed Lamm entered the record books in silence, his
head momentarily turned away from the sharp metal point entering
his right arm.
See, that's the thing.
The guy with more blood donations than any other Alaskan doesn't
really care for needles.
Just after 8:15 a.m. Thursday, Lamm made his 300th blood platelet
donation to the Blood Bank of Alaska, far and away the highest
number of lifetime donations in the state.
That's about 89 gallons of blood, for anybody keeping track.
"Boy, I sure hope this doesn't hurt," technician
Cynthia Watts half-joked as she slid the needle in. A few
reporters and a few more Blood Bank officials looked on.
No comment.
Watts bent down and asked Lamm quietly, just to make sure.
"No, it doesn't hurt," he said, smiling.
The two see each other pretty often.
Lamm visits the Mat-Su branch of the blood bank every two
weeks.
"You need to give back to the community," he explained,
from the chair. "It's one way you can do that. Doesn't
cost anything."
Lamm looked much younger than his 64 years, a tall, trim fellow
wearing a clean blue oxford shirt, worn black jeans, well-used
Skechers trail shoes and a new haircut for Thursday's big
event.
He retired about 10 years ago as a civil aircraft maintenance
superintendent at Elmendorf Air Force Base and moved from
Anchorage to what he jokingly called the "family compound"
off Fairview Loop Road in December 2006.
Lamm began donating whole blood in the early 1970s after a
coworker headed to the blood bank asked him to come along.
He switched to platelet donations eight years ago after seeing
some people sitting in chairs, giving blood and watching movies.
Platelets are cells in blood that cause clotting. They're
given to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy -- which
depletes platelets -- or patients with clotting disorders,
said officials of the Blood Bank of Alaska.
Thursday morning, Watts hooked Lamm up to a machine fitted
with tubes leading in and out of a centrifuge. In a process
called apheresis, the centrifuge spins the blood to separate
out blood cells, platelets and plasma. Lamm's platelets were
to be stored away -- and constantly jiggled to make sure they
don't start to clot -- but the blood cells and plasma were
pumped back into his veins.
Fewer people donate platelets because it takes longer than
whole-blood donations, Williams said.
Someone can donate platelets 24 times a year; whole blood
donors only six times a year.
So someone who donates platelets can really rack up the donations
if they're serious about it.
The donor with the next highest record is Bob Traut, with
240 visits. Ken Peaveyhouse got to 246 before he died last
year, said Jeremy Ferreira, the Mat-Su blood bank manager.
Plenty of donors don't love needles. Williams himself confesses
to being "somewhat needle-phobic."
"Our donors, they just kind of get over the fact,"
Ferreira said. "They may be afraid of needles, but what
they're doing helps a lot more than they are afraid of needles."
In honor of his 300th donation, the Mat-Su branch threw Lamm
a party and gave him a framed certificate. He'll also be honored
at a Blood Bank of Alaska event in June.
What now?
"I think it probably would be 100 gallons," he said.
"Because it seems like that's the next thing on the horizon."
Find Zaz Hollander online at adn.com/contact/zhollander or
call 352-6711
May 1, 2008
Give 4 times this year & become a HERO donor
Can you make a commitment to give blood at least 4 times this
year? Four times in 2008 is all it takes to become a member
of the 2009 HERO Program!
It's easy to do and you'll become a member of an exclusive
club in which you'll be eligible for bi-weekly drawings, prizes,
and receive HERO points to redeem for exclusive HERO merchandise!
Now is a great time to start if you haven't already and all
you will need is a minimum of 4 donations to be eligible for
the 2009 HERO program. Here's how:
• Donate Whole Blood 4 times
(56 days in between donations)
• Become an ALYX donor and
give double reds 2 times (112 days in between donations)
• Become a TRIMA donor and give platelets
4 times (as often as 1 time per week up to 24 times per year)
Don't be left out - call today to make your next LIFEsaving
appointment or stop by and visit any Blood Bank of Alaska
center or mobile
blood drive in your neighborhood!
Take the HERO Snapshot Challenge - Earn 25 Extra HERO
Points!
The rules are simple and open to all HERO blood donors! Be
creative with your ideas and have fun! Photos will be put
on display at your local community blood center as well posted
on the Blood Bank of Alaska website! Find
out more…
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