A
5200 Harry Hines Blvd.
,
Dallas
,
TX
75235
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- Main Retail Café: Mon - Sun | 6:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.
- Starbucks Café: WISH Building | Mon - Fri | 5:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
- Park Market Café: Mon - Fri | 6:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. | 8 p.m. - 4 a.m. | Sat -Sun | 7 p.m. - 4 a.m.
- Monday - Friday: 9 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
- Saturday & Sunday: 10 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- Monday - Friday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- 214-590-8831
- Monday - Friday: 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
- Monday - Friday: 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
- Monday - Friday: 6 a.m. - 11 p.m.
- Saturday: 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. Sunday: Closed
- Holiday hours may be different
Posted: 1/4/2016
Blood drive scheduled for Jan. 14
It’s easy to comprehend the urgent need for blood when a patient is critically injured and seconds can mean the difference between life and death. But at Parkland Memorial Hospital, the demand for blood and blood products reaches beyond caring for patients in its Rees-Jones Trauma Center.
On any given day, patients receive life-saving transfusions for conditions such as chronic gastrointestinal bleeding or Sickle Cell, a severe hereditary form of anemia in which a mutated form of hemoglobin distorts the red blood cells into a crescent shape at low oxygen levels. Blood and blood products may also be used during surgical cases, labor and delivery, dialysis or for oncology patients, among others.
Parkland is the largest single hospital user of blood and blood products in the Metroplex. In 2015, more than 22,000 blood products were transfused at Parkland. And with a shelf life of just 42 days, ensuring that there is enough blood to meet the demand is not an easy task. Parkland receives its supply from Carter BloodCare, an organization that supplies blood and blood products to 200 medical facilities in a 50-county region of North Texas.
“It is critical that we always have a large supply of O-negative and AB plasma,” said Terri Thibodeau, Parkland’s Lab Manager of Transfusion Services. “Those two are considered ‘universal donors,’ meaning that it’s safe to transfuse before we obtain a blood type on a patient.”
For those cases when seconds do count, Parkland stores a supply of universal donor blood in the Rees-Jones Trauma Center.
“You never know when a critically injured patient is going to present to the trauma center,” said Alexander Eastman, MD, MPH, Parkland’s Trauma Medical Director and Chief of the Rees-Jones Trauma Center and Assistant Professor of Surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “It’s vital to have every life-saving resource we need immediately at hand so we’re prepared to handle any type of medical emergency. Saving even a minute on delivering blood to a trauma patient could mean the difference in the outcome.”
To meet the demand at Parkland and other institutions, 1,100 blood donors a day are needed. And during the winter months when donors are busy with holidays and family gatherings or don’t get out due to bad weather, blood donations are even more critical. That’s why Parkland and Carter BloodCare are hosting a blood drive from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 14 in the private dining area of Parkland’s cafeteria, 5200 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, 75235. For more information on the upcoming blood drive, please call 469.419.1628.
Parkland employee Petra Townsend, a lead buyer in the Pathology department, is one person who regularly donates – and has been doing so since the 1970s.
“Every 56 days I donate whole blood. I give all four seasons and know that whatever I can do to help someone else makes me happy,” Townsend said. “I am at six gallons to date and as long as I can stay physically fit and healthy I will continue to give.”
For more information about donating blood, visit www.carterbloodcare.org.