Where else in South Florida is Blood
Collected?
Presented by:
Joseph Engelmajer
Gabriel Maldonado
Melissa Michaane
Emerald Nesbitt
Lauren Sarasua
History of Blood in America
During World War II doctors took a firsthand interest in blood transfusions and
blood banking because they saw the first hand effectiveness on the front lines. When
doctors returned home from the war they advocated an efficient system for storing
blood.
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First Blood Banks
The first U.S. blood bank was open in Chicago in 1937. In the following
year blood banks began to open all over the United States, initially in
San Francisco, Miami and New York.
American Association of Blood Banks and the American Red Cross
The AABB was established to support the growing number of blood
banks across America and to encourage blood related research to
benefit communities in need.
Plastic Blood Bag
Fenwal Co. invented the plastic blood bag in 1953, marking a historic
moment in blood collection. The plastic bag made the transportation
and blood easier and more convenient.
America’s Blood Centers
By 1962 America’s Blood banks had grown to 4,400 hospital blood
banks, 123 community blood banks and 55 American Red Cross blood
banks.
Modern Blood Banking
Blood banks were using a volunteer donating system by the 1970s;
about 5 to 6 million units of blood were being collected per year. In
1985 NIV blood screening was introduced to ensure safe blood
transfusions.
Requirements to Open a Blood Clinic
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Apply for accreditation from the American Association of Blood Banks
(AABB) before opening your blood testing clinic. The AABB sends out
evaluators to determine if prospective members meet standards for
handling, testing and storing blood before accreditation is provided. Start
your application at least one year before opening a clinic to anticipate the
lengthy AABB assessment process.
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Pursue a license to operate a blood bank or testing clinic through your state's
health department. Every state requires blood banks and other testing
facilities to register before operation to ensure health and safety standards
are met. Your executive board should think about safety and health protocols
covering everything from common spills to natural disasters when filling out
licensing applications.
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Refine your blood testing clinic's protocols for the disposal of needles,
storage of blood and protection of patient information before opening your
clinic. Understand state and federal health guidelines that dictate safe
operation of blood banks and clinics during this process. Print copies of your
protocols for every nurse's station, desk and room in your clinic to forestall
improper behavior from your staff.
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Hire registered nurses, laboratory techs and office staff for your blood testing
clinic. Reach out to professors at local colleges and medical schools to find
prospective nurses looking for experience in the medical profession. Your
office staff should consist of a full-time scheduler, a records clerk and
administrative assistant with accounting experience.
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Acquire sufficient equipment to have multiple blood tests in progress at your
blood testing clinic. Each testing room should have basic medical supplies
like Latex gloves, beds, needles and test bags to keep customers moving
quickly. Your testing area should have a refrigerator, microscopes and a
centrifuge from medical suppliers like Thermo Scientific.
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Reinforce the importance of confidentiality in blood test results with your
staff before opening the clinic. Highlight common confidentiality issues like
leaving messages about test results, handling patient files and speaking about
patients with fellow staff to avoid lawsuits.
How to Increase Blood Donations
 Inform the public of the necessity of blood donations. Posters, flyers, brochures,
billboards and ads on television and other electronic media are effective at
reaching the public. Many people do not understand that by donating a pint of
their blood they can literally save up to three lives. Informing the public of this fact
may make people more apt to donate their blood.
 Ensure that donating blood is a safe procedure. Needles and bags used to collect
blood are used only once and then discarded, so there is no risk of contracting a
virus or an infection while donating.
 Ensure that donating blood is convenient for donors. People live incredibly busy
lives, and often have good intentions, such as donating blood, but have a hard time
scheduling it into their days. Making blood donation convenient increases the
likelihood of donors finding time to donate blood. Scheduling blood drives at
places of employment; places of worship and malls are great ways of reaching
donors because these are places where they are already going to be.
 Provide incentives for people to donate their blood.
 Start a competition against a blood bank in another city, and announce that
competition to the public. Both the blood banks and the public will be motivated to
win the competition, leading to increased efforts in acquiring blood by the blood
banks and an increased willingness to donate blood by the public.
Where to Donate Blood
 You can donate plasma at local clinics, hospital locations, such as one of the many
operated by Community Blood Center of South Florida, or you can donate at a
mobile blood bank, such as the Blood Banker, which operates bloodmobiles at
different locations throughout South Florida on a daily basis. You can also give
blood at you local high school or university/college through the bloodmobile
service.
 Bloodmobiles are the most convenient and widely used method of donating blood
by the public. They are easily accessible because they are usually located in public
places such as malls, shopping plazas or grocery stores; colleges and churches.
Aspects to consider while choosing bloodmobile locations:
 One must take into account that these are 40ft buses that require at least 8
parking spaces.
 Safety (area must be well-lit)
 Comfort (area should be temperature controlled)
 Accessibility (area must be easily accessible to the public)
 Restroom access (restrooms must be available for use)
Clinics in South Florida for Soldiers
The ASPB or Armed Services Blood Program is a program that works in
conjunction with the armed forces of the United States to provide blood products for
service men and their families. While this program is successful it is sad to learn that
not one center that is strictly dedicated to our servicemen and women is located in
Florida. So what can we do to help? Unfortunately the Community Blood Centers of
South Florida do not offer any program to store your blood for use on military
personnel. You may donate blood to a specific person through directed donation,
but there is an excess of information needed about the person donating the blood to
enable someone to give a soldier a direct blood donation. You could donate through
the ASPB however it is important to know that their closest center is in Georgia.
Incentives for Donating Blood
 The incentives that blood banks offer their clients include, providing an entry into
a drawing or giveaway, providing t-shirts, food (such as subs or pizza), beverages,
trinkets, employee incentives and promotional efforts are great ways blood banks
entice people that are on the fence about donating blood to take the plunge and
donate. (An example of a promotional offer is Ben & Jerry's pint for a pint where
donors where offered a free pint of ice cream).
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Many times large employers will sponsor mobile blood drives and allow
employees a few hours off of work to donate blood. In addition, many high
schools hold annual blood drives which allow students aged 16 and over to
donate blood with a signed permission form. Typically students are offered
snacks, T-shirts, or time out of class as an incentive, as well as positive peerpressure.
Illegal Places to Donate Blood
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Illegal blood banks exist mainly for profit. They buy and sell illegally obtained
blood from people in their surrounding communities.
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Some of the blood gather from these banks are bought from drug addicts who
take their own blood with unsterilized syringes and sell them to the blood
banks for money often to support their drug habits.
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A lot of these blood banks don’t screen the blood they buy. Officials caution
the public from buying unauthorized blood from illegal blood banks. This
blood is unsafe for transfusion and may lead to the spread of Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and other transfusion transmitted-diseases.