URGENT REQUESTS FOR BLOOD

In light of recent storms across multiple southern states, several blood banks have put out an URGENT REQUEST for blood donors in response to and in preparation for the increased number of injuries. The most IMMEDIATE needs are in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee. If you are able to donate in any of the following states, please click the appropriate link and make an appointment today.

BLOOD ASSURANCE - Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama

LIFE SOUTH - Alabama, Georgia, Florida

MISSISSIPPI BLOOD SERVICES

AMERICAN RED CROSS BLOOD SERVICES

VIRGINIA BLOOD SERVICES

COMMUNITY BLOOD CENTER OF THE CAROLINAS (NC)

Dinner with America's Heroes

Back in January I had a wonderful visit at Wintergreen Resort with the Special Olympics of Virginia. At that event, I had the pleasure of meeting many different people including a wonderful group of gentlemen with the Knights of Columbus from Charlottesville. That day, one of the Knights, Joe, asked if I did other appearances and of course I said yes!

Soon after, Joe contacted my director, DeShawn, to have me visit the wounded warriors within the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) in Charlottesville. While it was a little time in the making, I am glad to say that I was finally able to visit with the warriors and even share a meal with them as I learned more about the facility and those that volunteer their time.

Martha Jefferson Hospital is a civilian partner with the DVBIC and as the wounded recover they have the opportunity to live in a home just around the corner from the hospital. This allows them to tend to rehabilitation and start living semi-independently but still have care if needed. Like many others, I did not know that this type of facility even existed but was completely impressed with the level of care and attention that these American Heroes are receiving.

They certainly know how to give someone a warm welcome too - dinner, great conversation and they even had a cake for me! I even learned a little geography lesson from one of the staff members, always nice to learn something new! Just a few photos from the evening, seems I so engrossed in the conversation and taking it all in, I didn't take too many. But at least you can see where these heroes are living and know that they are being wonderfully cared for.

This collage generated with Smilebox

Royal Blood

I guess I decided to jump on the Royal Wedding bandwagon and do a little "research". Well not really research but heck, why not learn a little more about "Royal Blood". Technically I guess that should be bloodlines, but I am not going to be technical for this post. But I did find a great paper written and have included excerpts here and if you like a full genetic breakdown, be sure to visit the link at the bottom of the post.

Have you ever heard of the "Royal Disease"? Well, a blood disorder first appeared in the Royal Family's bloodline with children of Great Britain’s Queen Victoria. It became known as the “Royal disease” because it spread to the royal families of Europe through Victoria’s descendants. Queen Victoria had always been worried about the quality of the blood of the British royal family. Her feelings about the necessity of revitalizing what she called the “lymphatic” blood of their houses are reflected in her letter to her daughter Vicky: “I do wish one could find some more black eyed Princes and Princesses for our children! I can’t help thinking what dear Papa said—that it was in fact when there was some little imperfection in the pure Royal descent that some fresh blood was infused… For that constant fair hair and blue eyes makes the blood so lymphatic… it is not as trivial as you may think, for darling Papa—often with vehemence said: ‘We must have some strong blood.’

Now it is highly doubtful that at the time of writing her letter, the Queen knew exactly what was wrong with her family’s blood. Hemophilia first appeared in Victoria’s family in her eighth child, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Throughout his short life, Leopold had suffered severe hemorrhages, and always was described as “very delicate.” Leading the life of a normal youngster was impossible for Leopold because any cut or bump could lead to death and it was necessary to keep him always under strict surveillance. However, in spite of all the protection, Prince Leopold died at the age of thirty-one as the result of a minor fall.


The appearance of hemophilia in one of Victoria’s sons upset and confused the Queen, who could only protest that the disease did not originate in her side of the family. Yet, a whisper about the “curse of the Coburgs” was spread about. This curse was supposed to have dated from the early nineteenth century, when a Coburg prince had married a Hungarian princess named Antoinette de Kohary. A monk, a member of the Kohary family, envied the wealth inherited by the happy couple from the bride’s father, and cursed future generations of Coburgs with the disease. Of course, hemophilia affecting Victoria’s offspring had nothing to do with the curse. The traditional view is that there was a mutation in either her or in a sperm of her father, Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent. From there it spread through the Royal Houses of Europe as monarchs arranged marriages to consolidate political alliances. We can trace the appearance of hemophilia as it popped up in Spain, Russia, and Prussia by looking at the family tree.


What is Hemophilia?

Hemophilia is an X-linked recessive disorder characterized by the inability to properly form blood clots. Until recently, hemophilia was untreatable, and only a few hemophiliacs survived to reproductive age because any small cut or internal hemorrhaging after even a minor bruise were fatal. Now hemophilia is treated with blood transfusions and infusions of a blood derived substance known as anti-hemophilic factor. However, such treatment is very expensive and involves the risk of contracting AIDS.

Hemophilia affects males much more frequently (1 in 10,000) than females (1 in 100,000,000). This occurs because a critical blood clotting gene is carried on the X chromosome. Since males only carry one X chromosome, if that is defective, hemophilia will immediately show up. An early death is likely. Females, on the other hand, carry two X chromosomes. If only one is defective, the other normal X chromosome can compensate. The woman will have normal blood clotting; she will simply be a carrier of the recessive defective gene. This fact will be discovered if some of her children are hemophiliacs. Naturally, women hemophiliacs are rare because it takes two defective X chromosomes in order for the condition to be seen.

I certainly feel like I have had an education and while we celebrate the Royal Wedding, we can also know that sometimes, a Royal Bloodline, isn't always a good thing. Ok, so it can be a great thing but just like everyone else, they are human, will rely on blood donors if they have the "Royal Disease" and at the end of the day, we all deserve to be a princess.


For the Full Article CLICK HERE: THE ROYAL DISEASE
(From the University at Buffalo, State University of New York)

Are You a Spring Break Hero?

While many of us are on spring break for the Easter Holiday, there will be just as many in need of a blood donor over the weekend. This time of reflection and in giving thanks for the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, I am reminded that He shed His blood and died to save ALL us and I am only asking that you donate 1 pint to save 3 lives. Seems like a small sacrifice in comparison, don't you think?

I wish you all a blessed Easter and may He be with you as you celebrate this joyful season.

INCEPT: My Roles at Incept

Welcome to another edition of Guest Blogging from my friends at Incept. Today, we get to take a look inside the life of Meredith Morckel, an Internet Conversational Marketing Expert (iCME) who specializes in blood donor recruiting and social media. Every week she takes on multiple roles as a member of the Incept team. Here’s more about what part she plays in the Incept experience. Enjoy!

Three Hats: My Roles at Incept

My job description was pretty straightforward when I first started working at Incept in June of 2010. I was hired as a Conversational Marketing Expert to make phone calls and recruit blood donors. Over the past ten months my position has grown from one role to three. I work the same amount of hours, but now handle a variety of tasks. Here is how the workweek looks for someone like me:

Blood Donor Recruiter

The majority of my hours are spent making outbound phone calls to potential blood donors. When they answer the phone I introduce myself, ask how their day is going, tell them how much we appreciated their previous donation, remind them how important it is to give blood (each pint can save up to three lives!) and then help them find the best date, time and location for an appointment. More than that, I connect with the donor. I build a relationship and, ultimately, help save lives by assisting with the process of obtaining blood.

Internet Conversational Marketing Expert

About every other day I work for the social media department! So much of modern communication is on the internet, including promoting blood donations and advertising your business! My time in this role is spent writing blog posts about the blood bank industry and social media, while also endorsing Incept on various websites like Twitter and Facebook.

Furthermore, I take photos of Incept employees in action, film and edit interviews, and compile reports. The stronger we build the company through the phones and the internet, the more blood centers we can help to recruit donors and the more lives we can save!

Member/Moderator: “Learning Never Stops” Committee

Once a week I meet with one of the “Live the Brand” committees. “Living the brand” refers to Incept employees embodying our core company values in their everyday lives: Integrity, Never Satisfied, Compassion, Everyone’s a Customer, Present and Tenacious.

My committee is full of lifelong learners who are never satisfied with their knowledge level. We’re in the process of creating a curriculum that covers various topics - from customer service and leadership to personal development and stress management.

Incept is invested in its employees, so much so that the company yearns to help them improve their lives both on and off the clock! The more knowledge employees have, the better they’ll perform their jobs. And the better they perform, the more lives we will save!

To learn more about how Incept helps save lives, check out our blog: blog.inceptsaves.com

Calling All Donors to "BE EXTRAORDINARY"

In March I received the news that I will be contributing to the "Be Extraordinary" National Campaign for the American Red Cross(ARC) for the summer of 2011. At first I was completely surprised and then humbled to know that I would be able to connect with millions of blood donors across the United States.

If you remember, last June, I had the opportunity to record two Broadcast Voice Messages for the Mid-Atlantic Blood Services Region of the ARC. While I still haven't figured out how to upload audio files, you can click HERE to see my post from last June with the text.

The Mid-Atlantic Blood Services Region is a part of the Heritage Division of the ARC. This division includes donor services in Penn-Jersey, the Greater Alleghenies, Greater Chesapeake & Potomac, and the Appalachian Regions. Here is the news just as I received it from the ARC:

Hi Rebecca!

The Heritage Division was honored this year to have been asked to develop the summer 2011 collateral pieces for the entire country. We are currently in the process of finalizing the materials, which have a theme of “Be Extraordinary.”

As part of our campaign materials, we’re including special messaging about the importance of Type O donations. We have created various flyers, talking points, and other materials to illustrate this point. You may remember that last June we had asked you to record a couple Broadcast Voice Messages (BVMs) to help recruit O-negative blood donors. The first message gave a summary of your story and asked people to come out and donate. The second message was sent as a “thank you” to those who did come out and donate. I am writing to let you know that we’ll be including these recordings as part of our national “Be Extraordinary” campaign materials! Exciting! The pre-recorded messages have been shared with regions across the country and may be used as they see fit.

We want to sincerely thank you again for doing these recordings and tell you how excited we are that your messages have gone national! I have included a copy of your recordings for your reference.

Thank you again – I hope you’re doing well and wish you a very happy and healthy spring!

Stephanie Stay | Marketing Associate
Mid-Atlantic Blood Services Region
American Red Cross


I am beyond excited and feel very blessed to be a part of this National Campaign with the largest blood collection agency in the United States.

So if you are Blood Type O- and donate with the American Red Cross this summer, you may just receive calls from me to encourage you to donate again or to say thank you!

Protecting the Military Blood Supply

Great news from the US Military Health System and Mediware regarding the HCLL Transfusion software.

CLICK on the press release below and learn a little more on how this software will manage and track blood donor records and blood product inventories in 28 MHS blood donor facilities around the world. Used together, Mediware's software will support the blood supply chain for the U.S. Military, including donor management, blood collections, testing, distribution and transfusion.

U.S. Department of Defense Selects Mediware Software for Enterprise Blood Management

New Donor Restrictions

We all know that there are certain restrictions that apply to blood donors like age, height, weight, etc... but there are few others that apply like if you have traveled to certain locations, have you had a tattoo, or various other areas of concern.

Recently the Canadian Blood Services has imposed a new donor restriction. They will begin excluding potential blood donors if they spent a total of six months or more in Saudi Arabia between 1980 and 1996. This policy was instituted after a probable case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) turned up in a Canadian resident who lived in Saudi Arabia between 1980 and 1996.

It is believed that the probable case of vCJD — the human form of mad cow disease — was acquired some years ago, most likely from imported British beef during that time period. In addition to the current case in Canada, two other suspected cases of variant CJD outside of Canada have been linked to patients who are current or former residents of Saudi Arabia.

Currently, people aren’t permitted to donate blood or plasma if they spent a cumulative total of three months or more in the United Kingdom or France between 1980 and 1996.

In addition, someone would be excluded from donating after spending a cumulative total of five years or more in western Europe outside the U.K. or France since 1980.

The current travel restrictions for the UK, western Europe or France, are the same from Canada to the United States. The newest Canadian restriction that will begin in June for Saudi Arabia has not been put in place for the United States at this time but is being reviewed.

If you are a regular blood donor and are preparing to travel outside of the country, please take the time to educate yourself on the restrictions that may be applicable after you return. Not that being a blood donor should stop you from traveling, but some restrictions may be in place for up to 7 years after you return.