Mountain Home blood donations help wounded warriors

  • Published
  • By Maj. Damien Pickart
  • 366th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho (AFPN) --  Mountain Home Air Force Base blood donors made a direct impact on wounded veterans returning from operations in Afghanistan and Iraq Jan. 23.

Mountain Home AFB was one of only two military installations able to help replenish the depleted blood supply at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., by sending 25 units of critically needed blood through American Red Cross channels.

Their assistance was prompted by a request from the Army Surgeon General's Office Jan. 22. The blood was sent out the following day.

"Because of the efforts you made, we were able to ship invaluable blood to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and keep them in business until their next shipment arrived," said Jim Koseki, the 366th Medical Group laboratory services transfusion supervisor and wing blood drive chairman.

Walter Reed Army Medical Center is the Army's east coast medical facility and has provided critical medical treatment and care for more than 30,000 wounded veterans returning from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan after treatment at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. Unusually bad weather conditions on the east coast throughout December 2007 and January greatly decreased donor turnout and the number of blood units collected by local banks. Walter Reed Army Medical Center's next shipment of blood was scheduled to take place several days after a flight of wounded patients arrived from Landstuhl in need of multiple lifesaving operations. 

Lackland AFB, Texas, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and other large donor centers could not send blood because of their monthly quota of blood due to the major national blood shipment centers, Mr. Koseki said. 

"After we received the call for support, I called Col. Laurel Dinerstein, (the) individual mobilization augmentee to the director of the Air Force Blood Program Office, to let her know units were on the way," Mr. Koseki said. "She told me she knew we would be the first to respond as we've done several times before."

Mountain Home AFB and the American Red Cross hold a blood drive every 56 days, which is the required recovery time between donations. The wing provided 83 units of blood during its December 2007 blood drive. 

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