379 EMDG, volunteers expediting shipment of donor blood saves lives

Published Sept. 22, 2008
By Senior Airman Clinton Atkins
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- A horde of volunteers stand waiting at the mercy of the flight. With great anxiety, the clock ticks and with each moments delay is a potential loss of life. The shipment finally arrives sending the group of strangers, now united by a single purpose, into a frenzy shrouded by the fog from dry ice.

The 379th Expeditionary Medical Group Blood Transshipment Center here is the sole purveyor of donor blood to the entire area of responsibility. The center relies heavily on volunteers in order to rapidly facilitate the shipment of these life-saving supplies.

"What we do here is very important to our warriors," said Capt. Jerome Vinluan, BTC chief deployed from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. "We are providing a life-saving service to the troops. Whenever there's an (improvised explosive device) or trauma victim out there, it's these blood resources coming from the states that are saving their lives. We provide that blood and we are the life line to those folks."

The BTC's impact encompasses all sister services and Coalition partners.

"This blood is a joint asset," he said. "It doesn't matter if you're Army, Air Force, Navy or Marine (or a Coalition partner)."

The BTC services 42 U.S. Armed Forces medical treatment facilities and five Coalition Forces hospitals within the area of responsibility, which have an insatiable need for this gift of life.

"This is a very rewarding experience for me and my staff. When we're in the states we do normal health care on a daily basis," said Capt. Vinluan, from San Diego, Calif. "But when we get the opportunity to directly impact our fellow Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines when they're hurt it's gratifying to know we are making a difference in saving these heroes' lives. This is an opportunity of a lifetime."

There are only five personnel assigned to the BTC - hence the need for volunteers. During any given week, an average of 30 selfless servicemembers help inventory and expedite the shipment of more than 1,200 units of blood, worth roughly $250,000, Captain Vinluan said.

"If it was just the five of us it would take a substantially longer time and we'd miss out on opportune flights," he said. "(The volunteers) provide an invaluable service. Most people are excited about helping, because it's doing something different and it's for a good cause. They're happy; we're happy, so it's a win-win situation."

The volunteers lend their time for different reasons, but most of them have discovered a profound purpose during their continued service.

"This is one of the (most important missions) I have ever been involved with in the military," said Tech. Sgt. Justin Blackwell, a four-time volunteer deployed from Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

At first, it was just another volunteer opportunity, but now there is a great sense of pride involved, said the Plymouth, Minn., native.

Several rows of boxes filled with frozen blood products and refrigerated red blood cells must be inventoried and repackaged with fresh dry ice for disbursement to the individual medical treatment facilities. The process recently switched to a night-time operation.

"We want to turn it around as fast as possible," Captain Vinluan said. "We could wait until the day time, but we would lose precious time. We meet the blood coming off the plane much like how [Personnel Support for Contingency Operations] staff greets our new (Air and Space Expeditionary Force) warriors.

"We recently went to a night shift, because we found it cuts18 hours off of the delivery time," he said. "Eighteen hours is a lot of time when you trying to save lives. Medical commanders throughout the AOR can't accomplish their mission without this blood. The sooner we can get the blood there the better."

The 379 Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron also plays an integral part in the life saving process.

"Blood is a high priority and the (379 EAMS) is very supportive of what we do," Captain Vinluan said. "We couldn't get our mission done without those aircraft."

Shipping blood is a never-ending team effort, but it all hinges on the home front endeavors.

"Any chance you get, we highly encourage you to donate blood," he said. "It's a way to directly save someone's life. We get to see the final product out here and we're able to make a difference because of the people who donated their blood."