Digital Donor

Between the brick school buildings of North Forest High School lies a little oasis – a garden lined with lush greens that seem to sparkle in the sunlight. It’s called the “Up and Atom” Garden, and it is the result of education, cultivation and lots of hard work.

The garden is a project of North Forest’s 4-H club and was created in partnership with the Prairie View A&M University Cooperative Extension Program.  Students, teachers, administrators and guests from the community gathered on Feb. 25 for “Growing the Forest Green,” a program and ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the garden and what it brings to the students of North Forest High School.

A few of us from The Blood Center attended the event – account representatives Shannon Cook, Lori Griffin and Letisha Polk, Donor Recruitment manager Kevin Shipley and myself. North Forest High School is one of the many high schools that take part in our Power of Life program, and the students who give blood have helped save thousands of lives over the years.

Interestingly enough, it was the blood drive program that inspired the school’s newfound commitment to nutrition.

In the course of hosting blood drives, Health Science Technology instructor and blood drive chairperson Dr. Emily Bartley noticed an alarming trend.  Almost a third of those who attempted to donate were being deferred due to low iron. It became obvious that many of the students’ eating habits needed improvement, and she sought out to change that by educating the students on good nutrition.

The “Up and Atom” Garden is part of that educational process, but the lessons learned from working in the garden go far beyond the topic of nutrition.

“Students are learning to grow vegetables, design horticulture projects, create gardening habitats and develop leadership, nutrition, food safety and life skills,” said Dr. Warren Anderson, North Forest’s principal. “The gardening activities through environmental sciences enable the students to relate the science classroom curriculum to real world activities.”

Bartley also emphasizes the sense of pride the students have taken in the garden. When a piece of trash flies into the garden, she says, a student passing by will always take a moment to pick it up – and not just the 4-H students who worked on the garden. “They understand that this is their garden.”

For more pictures from “Growing the Forest Green,” visit The Blood Center’s Flickr page.

Yay for teamwork! The Sugar Land Community Advocates held a blood drive on Sunday, Feb. 21, and went to great lengths to spread the word. Because the shopping center where the Sugar Land Neighborhood Donor Center is located doesn’t allow signs to be posted on the ground, the Advocates posted their sign on member Jimmie Daurity’s truck, and parked it near the entrance. The Advocates saw 86 donors throughout the day!

First-time blood donor Selena Simmons, 16, shows off a photo of the LifeFlight helicopter taken at The Blood Center’s Real World educational workshop, held at Memorial Hermann Hospital last year.  Simmons was one of nearly 300 students who donated at Alvin High School’s blood drive on Jan. 21. High school blood drives make up about 20 percent of The Blood Center’s mobile collections.

Young Jasmine likes to watch Dora the Explorer and listen to music.

After a heart transplant, Jasmine continues to enjoy Dora and music because of blood donors.

“She’s always asking for a book,” said her mother Bridgette Williams, a phlebotomist at Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center for 11 years. A year ago, blood donors made a bright future possible for Jasmine.

Bridgette found her 3-and-a-half year-old daughter in a life-or-death situation. Jasmine’s face had become swollen with fluids. She started to vomit excessively and was rushed to the hospital.

Doctors determined Jasmine, born with a heart murmur, would need a new heart. To sustain her life, they tried various devices, including the ECMO, a machine that pumps blood like a heart. Jasmine received more than 20 different medications plus red cells, platelets and plasma.

“After success with the ECMO for a month, Jasmine developed infections,” said Bridgette. The left side of her heart muscle wouldn’t work anymore. Her kidneys began to malfunction; they immediately started to treat her on dialysis. Her lungs started to fail. Jasmine had to come off the ECMO machine. The doctor explained to me about the Berlin heart, a research device from China. Texas Children’s Hospital was the first to use it.

“I told the doctor, ‘Let’s do it because I’m not giving up on my child’.”

Jasmine received the Berlin heart, then waited about four months for a heart transplant, which she received in August. Finally, Jasmine was released from the hospital in October 2009 to reunite with her family once again.

“Blood products helped save our daughter’s life,” said Bridgette. “I want to thank God first and everyone who donates blood. That’s why Jasmine is still here. Thank you for Committing for Life.”

Have you ever wondered: When was my last donation? How do I order an item from the Commit for Life store?

These are the kinds of questions fielded daily by Crista Mosqueda and Kristina Garrett, The Blood Center’s customer service gurus and the first point-of-contact for many donors.

On a typical morning, they kick into high gear to return at least 30 voicemail messages and peruse through around 50 e-mails. Every question, request or concern voiced by a donor is logged, reviewed by management and followed up by Customer Service until it’s resolved.

“You have to be a good listener,” said Crista. “We put ourselves in the donors’ shoes to understand their point of view and make sure they walk away with the information they need.”

Questions most often come from donors who want to check their cholesterol on Digital Donor or redeem their points at the Commit for Life store.

“We are happy to walk donors through the process, especially when it’s their first time getting familiar with their online account and its benefits,” Kristina said.

But that’s not all the duo talks about with donors.

“We do just about everything. If we don’t know the answer to a donor’s question, we route them to the correct place,” said Crista.

Of course, the territory of customer service comes with some memorable calls. Kristina shared the most heartwarming. A young boy, 8- or 9-years-old, had just received a transfusion that saved his life during his cancer treatment. He called to thank his donors. Even though he knew donors are anonymous, he had handwritten a letter to express his gratitude.

“It makes you feel so good when you get those calls,” said Kristina. “And we’re able to give the donors we talk to an extra thank-you for helping recipients like that little boy.”