Blood platelet donations vital in deployed environment

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Allison M. Boehm
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFNS) --  When a servicemember is critically injured in Iraq or Afghanistan and in need of a blood transfusion, it is the responsibility of technicians in the 932nd Blood Support Detachment here to ensure units of blood platelets are collected and shipped out to the caretakers tending to the wounded.

Medical officials say platelets are one of the most important parts of the blood.  They are a main coagulation factor and can play a vital role in saving lives. Since it's impossible to know when servicemembers will be wounded, having a reserve of platelets is crucial.

"We need a stock on the shelves in case of a mass casualty," said Army Sergeant Daniel Llenas, the 932nd BSD apheresis NCO in charge. "When we receive donations, they go to trauma victims who are losing a lot of blood. We give them red blood cells and platelets to slow the bleeding and prevent hemorrhaging, which is important because hemorrhaging is one of the main factors in deaths here in Iraq."

Since the shelf life of donated platelets is only good for five days, servicemembers of the 932nd BSD are always in need of donors.

"We need to keep our reserve stocked just in case something happens," Sergeant Llenas said. "We keep our supply in a platelet incubator and if it sits for too long the donation will clump up and be unusable."

For that reason, they depend on donations from deployed servicemembers like Staff Sgt. Ryan Eanes, a 727th Expeditionary Air Control Squadron surveillance technician.

"This is the easiest way to help save someone's life," said Sergeant Eanes. "All you have to do is sit here for a couple hours; it doesn't get easier than that. The bottom line is this saves lives and helps someone in need."

Anyone can donate after his or her blood is screened to ensure no diseases are passed to the platelet recipient. To screen donors, detachment technicians draws four tubes of blood and it takes two weeks for the results to come back.