20 Sep 2016 Arkansas Blood Institute brings resources to Central Arkansas
Story and photos
by Callie Sterling
The Arkansas Blood Institute is a non-profit organization that is in the business of saving lives.
The independent blood center currently serves as the exclusive blood supplier for 25 hospitals in Arkansas as well as six additional medical facilities in Oklahoma.
“Here at ABI, we have a donor center where we rely on volunteer donors from the community to give blood,” said ABI Executive Director Paulette Nieuwenhof. “That blood is then tested and purified in our facility. After it is tested, it is transported to various hospitals throughout the state where it can be used for patients in need.”
Although ABI is new to the Central Arkansas area, the organization is seasoned throughout the state.
“We are new to the 501 area code, but we are not new to Arkansas,” said ABI Account Consultant Vince Maniace. “We want to introduce ourselves to the 501 community and encourage members of Conway, Little Rock, Morrilton and other surrounding areas to donate.”
ABI is currently the exclusive blood supplier for Conway Regional Medical Center, Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, University of Arkansas Medical Sciences (UAMS), Arkansas Heart Hospital in Little Rock, CHI St. Vincent North in Sherwood, CHI St. Vincent Infirmary in Little Rock and CHI St. Vincent Morrilton.
The facility processes and disperses three separate components of donated blood: plasma, platelets and red blood cells. ABI is able to collect whole blood, and then the facility separates the three components from one person into three separate donations.
“We are proud that our efforts can benefit patients in the burn unit at UAMS as well as in the burn unit at Arkansas Children’s Hospital,” Maniace said. “Plasma is used for burn victims, red blood cells are used for surgery patients and platelets can be used for a child fighting cancer. It is amazing that one donation can help save three people.”
The ABI reference labs, located at the Little Rock and Fort Smith locations, give the organization the opportunity to offer a premium service for hospitals and patients. The reference lab department specializes in rare blood.
“Here in the reference lab, we work with rare blood that is used for patients that require multiple transfusions and build up antibodies as a result,” said ABI Reference Lab Medical Technologist April Hawkins. “We service hospitals by offering antibody workups. We also search for rare blood donors, and sometimes those donors are located in other parts of the country and even other parts of the world.”
Donors must be a minimum of 16 years old and accompanied by a parent or guardian that is able to provide consent on behalf of the donor. Once donors reach 17, they are no longer required to have parental consent to donate blood. All donors must weigh a minimum of 125 pounds.
“We check each donor’s blood pressure, pulse, temperature and iron before they are able to donate,” Nieuwenhof said. “If all of those indicators look good, then they are able to donate. We follow FDA regulations for donor standards.” Every donor is also provided with a complimentary cholesterol check.
If an individual is not approved as a donor due to blood pressure, pulse, temperature or iron levels, they may return after 24 hours to be re-tested and reconsidered as a donor.
“If someone is not approved due to their iron levels being low, we can provide them with helpful pamphlets on how to boost their iron level by eating certain foods,” Maniace said.
Each donor receives a free T-shirt as a donor recognition perk. “If a donor declines the complimentary donor T-shirt, the funds that would have been used to purchase the T-shirt are donated to GBF (Global Blood Fund),” Maniace said.
ABI often partners with businesses across the state to host blood drives for employees during the workday.
“We love when businesses, churches and various kinds of organizations host blood drives,” Maniace said. “It really helps us because we are able to have multiple donations made at one time. It benefits employees and members of organizations because they are often already on location where the blood drive is being held. Many employers allow the employees that choose to donate to stay on the clock during the donation process.”
The staff members at ABI are committed to helping the residents of Arkansas by ensuring that there is a surplus of donations for patients throughout the state.
Individuals that are interested in hosting a blood drive for their organization may contact Maniace at 501.904.4515 or [email protected].
Potential donors may visit arkbi.org to complete a portion of the donor information form online. To schedule an appointment, interested potential donors may call the Little Rock location at 501.904.4500.
“I feel a great deal of satisfaction knowing that I can help save someone’s life through my daily work,” Maniace said. “It is important that we keep finding donors because donations do unfortunately have an expiration date, and there is a great need in our communities. Anyone could become a transfusion recipient at any time, and it is good for our state to be prepared.”
