Langdale Forest Products’ Holds Record For Company Blood Drives in State of Georgia
Langdale Forest Products held their 17th semiannual blood drive May 15th, 2009. In 2000, the LFP Off-The-Job Safety Team discussed the idea of holding semiannual blood drives and in 2001 they became a reality. Technical Supervisor Ron Lowery has been involved since the beginning, and nine years later is still committed to seeing that each blood drive is a success. “Our goal for each blood drive is 45 units in a five hour time span. I was told last year by the South GA Chapter of the Red Cross that we are the only company in the state of Georgia to have had 14 blood drives and meet their goal every time. Since then we have had three more drives and consistently met our goal. Our record is 74 units in one blood drive.”
Of the group of individuals who donate, 2/3 of the group donates at each drive, if able. The other 1/3 is new donors. Reasons vary as to why someone might not be able to donate i.e., high blood pressure, clotting problems, etc., but just because they might not be able to donate at one drive doesn’t mean that they won’t be able to donate at the next blood drive.
Because LFP’s blood drives are so successful, the Red Cross brings four double unit machines to each blood drive. These machines get double the amount of red and white corpuscles and platelets. The machine separates the plasma from the corpuscles and platelets and then returns the plasma with some saline solution back to the donor so the donor doesn’t lose any volume and doesn’t experience the light headedness that some individuals get after donating. There are guidelines on which donors can donate on the double unit machines.
Ron explained that to reach the 45 unit goal they need 50 to 52 donors as 1 – 2% will not be able to give. The stats for May 15th drive were:
- 53 people signed up to donate
- 4 were not able to give
- 49 people attempted
- 12 of the 49 gave on the Double Unit Machines
- 61 units were collected at the plant site
- Several others donated at the Red Cross Blood Center prior to the drive
And while not everyone can or wants to give, Ron pointed out that those that do not donate have to pull an extra load on the line working while donors are donating. It takes everyone to make the blood drives successful.