Airmen 'pump' blood to warfighters, civilian casualties

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tong Duong
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  At the heart of the Blood Transshipment Center here, a five-member team pumps blood to Southwest Asia, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and the Horn of Africa.

The team, along with a group of volunteers, processes thousands of units of life-saving blood for warfighters and civilian casualties weekly. 

The blood products come packed in ice and shipped in styrofoam and must be inspected before being distributed downrange.

"We provide packaged red blood cells, frozen plasma, cryoprecipitate (a frozen blood product prepared from plasma) and frozen blood," said 1st Lt. Nichole Scheuer, the 379th Expeditionary Medical Group BTC officer in charge, who is deployed from MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

"The BTC team and base volunteers perform quality control for the frozen units, ensuring defective products aren't being distributed to the blood supply depots in Iraq and Afghanistan," she said.

A simple, but time consuming procedure, they inspect the units for cracks and breakage, which could take the BTC team an additional eight hours a day without the help of volunteers, Lieutenant Scheuer said.

Sourced primarily from military donors, but occasionally purchased from civilian agencies, the delicate products must be handled with a sense of urgency and care, she said.

"The biggest challenge is making the sure that the blood reaches its final destination within 48 hours of packing so that proper temperature is maintained," the lieutenant said.

Senior Airman Garrett Olivier, a 379th EMDG medical laboratory technician who is also from MacDill AFB, believes in helping those who are in need and feels the medical field is the best place to do that, she said.

"Every blood product we ship out will be used to potentially save the life of a fellow servicemember or civilian, so they can make it home to their families and loved ones," he said. 

For more information on volunteering to be part of the "Life Force" team of donors, volunteers and supporters of the Armed Services Blood Program, visit their Web site at www.militaryblood.dod.mil. The site features information on how to join and topics including blood facts, donor eligibility criteria and donor center locations.

Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link)

Click here to view the comments/letters page