American Red Cross Central Plains Region representatives in attendance were Pam Head, CEO; Terri Dunaway, DRD Director; Brent Yoder, Customer Service Manager; and Teresa Bos, Donor Resources Representative. Also present was local Cannonball Trail Chapter director, Donna Pfeifer.

Pratt Regional Medical Center is honored to have recently received the Hospital of the Year award from the American Red Cross Central Plains Region for Blood Services. Five representatives from the Red Cross, including CEO Pam Head and local Cannonball Trail Chapter director, Donna Pfeifer, hosted a luncheon for Pratt Regional Medical Center’s administrative staff, where PRMC President and CEO, Susan Page, accepted the award on behalf of all PRMC employees.

“It is my pleasure, and such an honor to accept this award on behalf of the wonderful group of employees we have at Pratt Regional Medical Center,” Page said. “Because we work in healthcare, we see first hand how important blood donations are to our patients who need blood.”

Pratt Regional Medical Center hosts a blood drive on campus four times per year, where the Red Cross is able to collect approximately 100 units of blood per year. One special employee goes above and beyond the four times a year donation by driving to Wichita every other week to donate platelets.

Mike Bonham, who works in the laboratory at PRMC, began donating whole blood years ago, and through the information he received from the Red Cross, felt he could help out more by donating just platelets. “I have been donating platelets for about a year and a half now,” Bonham said. “Platelets have only a five day shelf life, and therefore I feel I can help more people by donating platelets every other week, instead of donating whole blood only four or five times a year.”

With just a five-day storage life, platelet donations are delivered quickly to the patients who need them. Until recently, the only way to collect enough platelets for a single transfusion was to take blood donations from 5 to 10 donors, separate the platelets from the other blood cells, and combine the platelets to obtain a large enough quantity for transfusion. Platelet donors have the satisfaction of knowing that their donation will be saving a life within just a few days. Blood is made of four components: platelets, plasma, red blood cells and white blood cells. The platelet component is necessary to control bleeding. Patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments, for example, are unable to produce enough platelets. Without platelet transfusion, life-threatening hemorrhages could result.

By the end of 2006, Bonham will have donated a total of 162 units, which is about 20 gallons of blood. When asked for permission to share his story in this article, Bonham replied, “If my story helps to encourage others to donate blood, then sure, you can use it.”

“Pratt Regional Medical Center truly is Simply the Best because of the employees and volunteers who come to work every day to help others,” Page said. “We are thankful for each and every one of them.”

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