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Red Cross Blood Regions and Testing Labs Demonstrate Overall Excellence
Tuesday, November 29, 2005 — The first annual American Red Cross Biomedical Services Region of the Year and annual National Testing Lab of the Year awards for overall excellence were presented at a recent American Red Cross Biomedial Services leadership meeting in Seattle.
Winning honors went to the Central Plains Blood Region and the Charlotte Laboratory. These two facilities were selected for their exemplary performance for Red Cross Blood Services during fiscal year 2005.
“My hope is that in the future all regions are inspired to achieve this award,” said Jack McGuire, Executive Vice President, American Red Cross Biomedical Services. “I hope they will look to this year’s recipient as a resource for information and suggestions that might help them win the award.”
Leaders from the top regions and the top lab were seated at a table of honor during the leadership dinner in recognition of their teams’ accomplishments.
The AABB (previously known as the American Association of Blood Banks) annual meeting was held concurrently to the Red Cross leadership meeting and awards were presented by AABB to individuals and organizations for their significant contributions to the advancement of transfusion medicine and cellular therapies.
Chosen from an outstanding pool of nominees, the Red Cross Pacific Northwest Blood Services Region received an Award of Merit in the Educational Category from AABB.
Many of the AABB award nominees were recommended by Red Cross individuals or organizational units, such as the Outstanding Achievement Award for an Individual. This award was presented to the president of an Univision television station in Puerto Rico who was recognized for his strong support of voluntary blood donations throughout the United States. The winning nomination was made by the American Red Cross Puerto Rico Region and Blood Source.
The Award of Merit recognizes the greatest individual contribution to enhance the field of blood banking and transfusion medicine by non-blood bank employees. Nominated by the American Red Cross Central Plains Blood Region, Fire Captain Steven Schowalter from the Wichita Fire Department received the award for his lifetime commitment to the transfusion medicine community.
Captain Schowalter donated not only his time and energy, but also 49 gallons of his own life-saving blood. He also spearheads a friendly blood drive competition called “Battle of the Badges.” Each year, he recruits sponsors for the annual community blood drive supported by the Wichita-area law enforcement officers and firefighters. Additionally, he recorded and helped produce a donor recruitment promotional video, which has aided the Red Cross Midway Kansas Chapter in greatly increasing awareness.
“The captain was nominated by the Central Plains Region,” said Greg Vasse, Senior Vice President, American Red Cross Biomedical Services. “It isn’t surprising that the Region has volunteers of this caliber. They cannot achieve an award winning level of performance by themselves,” he said.
The AABB Award of Merit for Television, which recognizes television stations that respond to blood emergencies and provide television media exposure, was awarded to an Atlanta NBC affiliate. This affiliate was nominated by the Red Cross Southern Region for their generous donation of time and television resources, for sponsoring several blood drives, and for ensuring reporting accuracy and covering stories of importance to the blood community.
In addition, AABB announced the appointment of Christopher D. Hillyer, MD, as president for the 2005-2006 term. Dr. Hillyer is a tenured professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and the husband of Dr. Krista Hillyer, medical director for the American Red Cross Southern Blood Region.
“This has been a good year for Biomedical Services. The outstanding performances in the field and the number of awards received by either Red Cross units or their nominees at the AABB meeting sets a standard for what will hopefully be an even better showing next year!” said McGuire.
The American Red Cross provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply (collecting more than 6 million units a year from volunteer donors) to patients in 3,000 hospitals across the country through its national network. Every two seconds, someone in America needs blood. The Red Cross must collect blood donations each and every day to meet the needs of accident victims, cancer patients and children with blood disorders, and the organization works to accomplish this through its 36 Blood Services regions. Please call today to make your appointment to give the gift of life. Call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE to schedule your donation or to sponsor a blood drive.
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