Blood transshipment center supports U.S., coalition war fighters

Published Aug. 10, 2007
By Senior Airman Clark Staehle
379th Air Expeditionary Wing

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- The 379th Expeditionary Medical Group's blood transshipment center here has a tendency to make people's blood run cold - literally.

The Airmen who comprise the BTC are responsible for receiving blood from donors stateside, processing it, accounting for it, repacking it and shipping it to medical facilities throughout Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom and Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa areas of responsibility.

Blood is a perishable item and if not used by a certain date, it's destroyed. This is one reason there's a constant need for more.

According to Tech. Sgt. John Joanidas, 379th Expeditionary Medical Group, the blood's trip begins in the arm of a military donor, though in times of dire need the military will also use blood obtained through the Red Cross or hospitals.

Two of the three components in blood are separated in a centrifuge - red blood cells from plasma. The plasma is put into a centrifuge again where cryoprecipitate is separated.

Now separated into different containers, the components are sent to one of two Armed Services Whole Blood Processing Laboratories, ASWBPL-West at Travis Air Force Base, Calif. and ASWBPL-East at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J.

Once at ASWBPL-East, it is processed and readied for its weekly shipment to Europe and on to Southwest Asia.

The BTC team receives 1,400 to 1,800 units of blood components each week. The staff works with the U.S. Central Command Air Forces Joint Blood Operations Officer-forward to help put together a daily blood report, which forecasts how much blood will be needed to maintain current stockpiles.

After the components arrive, BTC volunteers help the BTC process it.

Volunteers help run quality control checks on each unit, inspecting for damaged containers, said Staff Sgt. Joel Ketchum, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing legal NCOIC of military justice, who helped during a recent shipment. Sergeant Ketchum is deployed here from Elmendorf Air Base, Ak. and is a native of Moreno Valley, Calif.

The volunteers help scan each component's bar code into the Transportable Defense Blood Standard System, which maintains accountability for each unit by ensuring the same ones that were shipped are the same one coming in.

They're then repacked with dry ice to help keep them from spoiling and sent to hospitals at Balad Air Base, Iraq, and Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. The BTC works hand in hand with the Air Transport Operation Center to coordinate aircraft available to ship the blood.
From those two bases, the blood eventually makes its way down to 42 blood supply units, where it is used to help treat U.S. and coalition servicemembers and civilian casualties of war.

Because blood is perishable, one of the challenges the team faces is keeping the components cool, Sergeant Joanidas said. If it's allowed to warm up, it'll spoil and will render the batch unusable.

The ice inside the coolers is replaced with fresh ice every 40 hours while it's in transit.
This helps ensure the blood stays cool enough until it's repacked here in dry ice for shipment to hospitals up-range.

Even though it's just another day on the job, the Airmen at the BTC know their job is a crucial one.

"It's an important mission," Sergeant Joanidas said, who's deployed here from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. "I'm doing something valuable. I'm providing blood for troops when they're wounded in combat. I'm proud to give them another chance at life."