Eye On Houston

Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center

Jay Michaels from Mix 96.5 talks with Cameron Palmer (Public Relations Specialist) from Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center about the need for blood donations following natural disasters and weather events, how easy and quick it is to donate blood, and some tips for those who may be a little scared of the needle. Visit GiveBlood.org for more information.

Duration:: 15m
Broadcast on:: 29 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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And obviously people still are in need of blood even during natural disasters like hurricanes. Correct. Yeah, we're the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center. We supply 170 hospitals with blood and blood products. And that's all throughout the Gulf Coast area everywhere from Houston to East Texas to Brazos Valley. And there is always an ongoing need for blood. People from all over the world, not just our community, are coming to our medical center because we do have the largest medical center in the world, the Texas Medical Center. And I say people from all over the world are coming for these treatments. And these blood products are needed every day. We need about a thousand blood products every day just to meet the daily needs of our community. So whenever we see these natural disasters such as hurricane, we've had some flooding as well in May. When we see this and we see power outages, it actually does hinder our blood supply because we're unable to host blood drives at businesses and organizations. And even some of our neighborhood donor centers were affected by the power outages. And this hinders our blood supply because we're unable to collect the blood that is needed. Whenever these happen, you know, it's the units that, you know, we're trying to collect, we're just unable to. So, you know, that actually hinders our blood supply. And, you know, we're hoping one, we never have a situation where we don't have any blood on the shelves. So that's why it's extremely important for our community to kind of come together, this last push for summer to come out and really donate blood or if you have a business or organization just to think about hosting a blood drive. We talk so much about wanting to help our community, right? And people talk about wanting with financial donations or with this or that. And we all know money is tight. This is one way literally you can help save a life. With no financial obligation, you're giving something literally for free. And it's so easy to donate to. It is. And one thing about blood is it replenishes in your body. Right, right. You're not losing anything. You know, when you donate blood, your body actually replenishes it and you have blood again. And you can donate once every 56 days. So the frequency of you donating, you know, you can really truly help out someone. And it's free and it's easy. And it's truly impacts patients, you know, in our community. Because you never know when a loved one, a friend or family member might need blood, you know, one in seven people that enter the hospital will need a transfusion. And only about one in 20 people actually donate blood. So there is definitely a big gap between the amount of people that need blood and the people that actually donate blood. So we really need our community to, you know, come together and come out and donate blood because we are in need of blood or in need of all blood types. And you know, our community definitely needs it today as we finish off summer and we go into, you know, the school. Can you talk to me really quick about, you know, for someone that may be listening this morning, that is never given blood. And maybe you're like me and you're like, all right, the thought of needles in blood, it makes me squeamish right now, right? But I want to do this because I want to help save a life. And can you talk to it? Because I've given blood, I know how easy of a process this is. It's a painless process. Can you talk to us really quick about how how simple, how easy and how quick this is? And so it's a really simple process. Just to get started, we always ask you to go to website at giveblood.org to schedule an appointment. I want to either our fixed sites or even one of our mobile blood drives. And we do take walk in. So you're more than welcome just to kind of walk in and donate blood. Make sure you bring your ID, drink plenty of water and get a good night's rest and make sure you eat something as well. And once you check in, you're going to go to one of our screening booths where you do some eligibility questions and mini health screening because we want to make sure that you are healthy and feeling well to donate blood. And after that, one of our phlebotemus will escort you to the donor chair while they're prepped the area. And then you're just a little needle prick and you are actually saving lives. And the actual process like just donating whole blood, it's only about 10 minutes. So you really only have the needle and arm for like 10 minutes. It's very quick, it's nearly painless. And we have very well trained staff phlebotemus to make your experience as comfortable as possible. Because we do want donors to come back. You know, we want you to make donate and as part of your regular yearly routine. So we want you to come back because we want to make your experience as great as possible. We always have some sort of promotion item afterwards. And don't forget, we always have snacks, cookies, drinks and everything, you know, after your donation as well. And in the end, what I really love about Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center is that whenever you donate blood, you actually get a text on a couple of days later that says, Hey, your blood is on the way to save lives. And that's one thing that I really love to receive whenever I donate blood is that little text that says, Hey, your blood donation is on its way to save someone's life in our hospital. And that's such just a great little added feature that we have. I love seeing that to know that my blood is actually going to someone right now to save their lives. Yeah, because you, yeah, wow, because yeah, because you, you know, you, you, you do your thing, you, I was going to ask if the cookies are still available because that's the best part, right? It's your cookie and you leave, but then you forget about it. So getting that text is almost like that reminder of, wow, I did do something that seemed kind of simple and, you know, whatever, but, but really did literally save a life. Now, Cameron, you mentioned earlier, obviously, you can, you can go to give blood.org, you can find the, the location nearest to you wherever you're at in the region to donate with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, but you mentioned blood drive. So maybe you're, you know, maybe you want to talk to your boss or if you're in human resources, maybe you want to organize a blood drive with your work or your church, your organization. That's something you guys do too, is work with different groups, right to, to host a blood drive at an employer or a school or an event. Correct. We're always looking for different locations to host blood drives because we want, really want to make it more convenient for the community. You know, it's, it's a little more difficult to maybe go to one of our donor centers versus, you know, hey, my, my job is hosting a blood drive. Let me just, you know, go downstairs to, you know, one of our donor coaches or, you know, even a conference room and just donate blood. So we were looking for, yeah, more businesses in organizations to host blood drives to make it more convenient for our community and just hosting a blood drive saves even more lives. It's not just, you know, you donating blood and you're saving, you know, one, one to three lives, but you can actually save many lives. If you get a big turnout and, you know, encouraging your employer employees to come out and donate blood or we've even had some businesses and organizations offer incentives to their employees for donating bloods like, hey, we're doing to do a drawing for maybe some PTO days or there's like a gift basket. We're giving away or some gift cards. So we've seen that with some business organizations. So we are looking for locations to host blood drives. So if you have a location and, you know, you want some more information, everything can be found on our website at giveblood.org. There's a little link that says host a blood drive and you can find all that information. We have great staff on standby to help answer any questions and the logistics to hosting a blood drive. So, we do encourage you to host a blood drive. It's free. It doesn't cost you anything. Just, you know, space for us to come in and set up. As a parent, you always want to set your child up for success. 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All types are always needed. Different blood types are used for different things, different patients. So all blood types are needed and a more diverse blood supply is also needed. So we are trying to get a more diverse blood supply because there are certain disease and illnesses that take a certain demographic of blood in order to treat them, such as sickle cell, for instance. It affects our black and African-American community. So having a demographic of blood that fits more their demographic, you have less complications whenever you have the transfusion. So we are looking for everybody to come out. Everybody's welcome. We are inviting you to come out. We're inviting the community to come out to come and donate blood. And I always tell people, don't self defer yourself. Don't be like, eh, you know what? I can't donate blood because I'm anemic. Or, you know, maybe I traveled and, you know, I'm not going to donate blood. Never self defer yourself. Always come in and at least try to donate blood. And it's always good to, you know, maybe bring a friend. It's always good to donate in pairs. Bring a buddy, you know, someone, you know, come and donate with you. So maybe if you're afraid of the needles like I am, you've got that support system to be like, you can do this. You have that support this. I mean, even when I donate blood, you know, I go with some of my colleagues and we all have like a little group. We all come and donate blood and, you know, it's just, it's just a great way to, you know, connect and, you know, have a little bit of fun while you're doing it. And you get a cookie afterwards, too, so. And you get a cookie. We always have some sort of promotion item going on. We have drinks, cookies. We have music. You have a TV. You can have, if you get cold, we have blankets. If you get too hot, we have ice packs, like air conditioned busses, especially in, in this lovely Texas heat. So our donut coaches are very cold and it feels great when you walk inside. So we do encourage you just to come out and donate blood. Cameron Palmer with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, thank you for all you guys do, help me to save a life. And you can help save a life by visiting giveblood.org to find a donation center closest to you. This is I on Houston. As a parent, you always want to set your child up for success. So when they're struggling in school or they need help with homework, you try your best to step up. But sometimes you might not be equipped to answer. And it's better to leave that to the experts from Ixcel Learning. Ixcel Learning is an online learning program for kids. It covers math, language arts, science and social studies. Ixcel can help your child really understand and master topics in a fun way with positive feedback. Powered by advanced algorithms, Ixcel gives the right help to each kid no matter the age of personality. And when you sign up, one subscription gets you everything you need for all the kids in your home from pre-k to 12th grade. Ixcel is used in 95 of the top 100 school districts in the US with one in four students across the country using the program. So don't wait any longer. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get Ixcel now. And listeners can get an exclusive 20% off Ixcel membership when they sign up today at Ixcellearning.com/audio. Visit Ixcellearning.com/audio to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Presented by T-Mobile, the official wireless partner of Odyssey Sports. With an awesome network and great savings, there's never been a better time to join T-Mobile. Visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today.