After 10 years in the area, Southwest Washington Blood Program sets up shop
The Southwest Washington Blood Program is not the new kid on the block; it now has a block to call home.
After 10 years in the area, two of which have been spent roaming Clark and Cowlitz counties in a 40-foot "blood mobile," the program has set up shop in more permanent digs, which opened this week in Vancouver.
A branch of the Seattle-based Puget Sound Blood Center, the program is an independent, volunteer-supported nonprofit organization providing blood and tissue services, research and education.
In 1995, Southwest Washington Medical Center approached the blood center about supplying its blood, as did St. John Medical Center in Longview. The program has been a presence here since.
In Southwest Washington, the program collected 4,400 units of red blood cells and supplied about 11,000 units to the two hospitals, as well as Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital, from June 2005 to July 2006, its last full fiscal year, said Dave Leitch, director of donor and volunteer resources for the Southwest Washington Blood Program.
In Clark County alone, it collected about 3,500 units of red blood cells and supplied about 7,700. The extra blood was supplied by the blood center’s other collection centers.
"It’s about halfway to where we want to be," Leitch said.
Vancouver’s new center, located at 9320 N.E. Vancouver Mall Drive, Suite 100, is the Puget Sound Blood Center’s 10th collection center statewide.
The local program took its name as the Southwest Washington Blood Program in the fall of 2004 with the arrival of the blood mobile to closer identify with the area, said Puget Sound Blood Center spokesman Tom Butterworth.
All part of the plan
The new center, opened Jan. 17, is a tangible effort to raise the number of local donations the program collects.
"We’re definitely excited," Leitch said. "It’s been one of those long-term goals we’ve aimed for. Really, it’s a culmination of a five- to 10-year effort to establish ourselves in a permanent building rather than roaming around in a blood mobile."
The program started out with the blood mobile and built up a donor base to open the center, and the ultimate goal is to close the gap between the number of blood units the program collects and supplies locally to become self-sufficient, he said.
Jim Douma, Puget Sound Blood Center’s director of facilities, said the 3,697-rentable-square-foot building is the prettiest donation center the organization has designed so far.
Designers integrated a "coffee bar" feeling in the donor canteen – where donors nibble on cookies and juice after giving blood – instead of having them sit at isolated tables. The design also called for fewer tables and chairs in the waiting area to create a cozy, inviting space, Douma said.
Andy Jacobson of Vancouver-based Wilson Assoc. A.I.A. designed the $386,000 building and Vancouver-based Team Construction built it.
With state-of-the art equipment, the facility will be the first to host two programs that are in the pilot stage in Seattle now.
One involves computerizing the registration process and having scannable donor cards for regular donors. The second is a new process that actually doubles the amount of red blood cells, not the plasma, collected in one sitting. Donors must meet certain health and body requirements, but it will target the people who donate only once per year.
The programs will likely be implemented here by next year.
Out for blood
Establishing a program invariably means bumping into the local guys every once in a while.
The American Red Cross Southwest Washington Chapter has been the primary blood collection agency in the area. And the chapter isn’t exactly acting as the Southwest Washington Blood Program’s welcome wagon.
Last year, the Southwest Washington Chapter collected 24,589 units of blood and David Fenton, senior development director for the American Red Cross Southwest Washington Chapter said 90 percent of that blood stayed in the area.
"It’s important that people donate blood, period. It doesn’t matter who they donate it to. What matters is the blood supply and we don’t have any bones," said Fenton. However, Fenton cites the sting of a non-local competitor setting up shop in the market.
"It’s like the Portland Business Journal coming into town and setting up coin centers on every block – it pisses you off. We hope people continue to support their local product."
The American Red Cross Southwest Washington Chapter has a contract to supply blood products with the Legacy Health System, including Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital.
It is tasked with collecting 5,000 units of blood each week to supply its hospitals in Clark, Cowlitz, Pacific and Wahkiakum counties, as well as some hospitals in the Portland area that 40 percent of Clark County residents who need major surgery or specialties go, Fenton said.
"They seem very angry with us," Butterworth said. "We don’t have any problem with them. They are a great organization that does wonders. Blood is vital to the people who need it, so it doesn’t matter where it comes from."
Karen Ellis, community relations specialist for the American Red Cross Southwest Washington Chapter, said she wouldn’t say the two organizations are competing, exactly.
"We’re both out there saving lives," she said. "But it’s kind of like two ambulance services elbowing each other out of the way to save lives."
When it comes down to it, Leitch said, the American Red Cross has been the major supplier here for 50 years.
"We think Southwest Washington can support drives for both of us," Butterworth said. "We’d like to see more donors in the region make even more donations."
