San Angelo Works Together to Save Lives

At roughly 7:45 p.m. Saturday night, McCall Miller was involved with a shooting accident with a .22 caliber rifle.

He suffered extensive injuries and needed a lot of blood to stay alive, so his family organized a blood drive at the United Blood Services of the Concho Valley.

As of 11:30 a.m. Monday morning, 52 people had signed up to donate blood to Miller, everyone from family, to friends, to total strangers who felt that they needed to help.

“It’s amazing, it’s more than anyone could have hoped for,” said Miller’s sister, Morgan.

United Blood Services normally open at noon on Mondays, but opened their doors opened at 8:30 a.m. Monday morning to accommodate the supporters for Miller.

The beds were full, the waiting room was full, the mobile donation bus parked outside was full, all appointments were booked, and most of Tuesday’s slots were filled. And that after only a few hours of operation.

“Accidents like this point and underscore the point that we need a steady stream of donors everyday,” said Linda Grace, Donor Recruitment Representative for the United Blood Services.

“It was the blood on the shelf that saved his life,” said Grace. “Blood is held in quarantine for 24 hours for the extensive testing that we do—even though they [donors] are coming in today, that blood won’t be available until this time tomorrow at the earliest.”

Only blood given at the United Blood Services can be used for transfusions in hospitals said Grace.

Aside from the Miller accident, the UBS was already in a shortage from the icy weekend.

“There were several wrecks, all that did impact our supply on hand,” Grace explained. “I know we are getting some shipments from our other centers as well to make sure we can stay caught up.”

The bad weather and many people going on vacation could have a major impact on the demand for blood.

“We have a four-day holiday weekend when donations drop off and needs go up,” said Grace, foreshadowing a typical jump in the number of accidents between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

To prepare for the demand, the UBS is only closed on Thanksgiving Day, but is open on Black Friday and Saturday.

“It’s important to us as stewards of the community blood supply to make sure we have the supply on hand,” said Grace, “we never want to get to a situation where we don’t have what someone needs.”

The UBS relies on folks donating to meet this community need.

To make donating faster you can go online to http://www.unitedbloodservices.org/ to fill out the health questionnaire ahead of time so that all you have to do is have vitals taken at the center.

“It streamlines the process,” explained Grace. “But it must be done the same calendar day as the donation.”

For more information visit http://www.unitedbloodservices.org/ or call (325) 223-7500.