An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Airmen in Iraq collect platelets to save lives

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Phillip Butterfield
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Public Affairs
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq --  "You will feel a little pinch," said an aphaeresis lab technician. "When the flow starts, it will come in this way, and then back out this way. The process doesn't take too long so, sit back and watch the movie."

The pinch of the needle for some is acknowledgement of a job well done for saving the life of a fellow servicemember with a donation of platelets. The 332nd Medical Group is screening for platelet donors to keep this highly perishable blood component in stock.

Whenever the hospital has a trauma patient experiencing complications with bleeding, said Sgt. Kristen Totten, 932nd Blood Support Detachment aphaeresis NCO in charge. The doctor will prescribe platelets to help control the bleeding and replace what the patient has lost. Platelets are the blood component that helps your blood to clot.

"Platelet donation is important," said Sergeant Totten, deployed from Fort Hood, Texas. "Unlike whole blood which can be stored for more than 30 days, platelets go bad in five to seven days. To wait for platelets to be shipped from the U.S. would take too long if we needed some now."

The lab needs to get five to seven units a day, which are used here and also shipped to other sites in Iraq. To keep from having a shortfall, platelets are collected from donors through a process known as aphaeresis, which is the process were blood components are separated from whole blood.

In the past, platelets were collected by using six bags of whole blood and separating the platelets out, which yielded one unit.

Now, platelets are collected more efficiently, no bags of whole blood are used and the lab can retrieve up to two units from one donor.

When servicemembers want to donate they are prescreened before giving platelets, said Sergeant Totten. The process entails some paperwork and taking a blood sample.

The sample is sent to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, where it is tested for blood borne pathogens. It takes approximately two weeks to receive the results. If the results are negative, then the patient can give platelets.

"Giving platelets is the right thing to do and there's no reason not to," said Tech. Sgt. Valerie Dunn, 332 Expeditionary Logistics Squadron passenger terminal assistant crew chief, who is deployed from Westover Air Reserve Base, Mass. "There will always be injured servicemembers that will benefit from your donation."

Even if a servicmembers has been told in the past that they cannot donate blood, contact the 332 MDG to determine if platelet donation is possible. For more information, call 443-2828.