Teresa Tran, donor relations account manager for ImpactLife, joins Community Voices to talk about the importance of giving blood locally and how those donations help patients at local hospitals throughout central Illinois. Tran shares details about upcoming blood drives in the area, including drives at local high schools and hospitals. She explains how students can earn credits toward graduation cords and other incentives by donating, volunteering, or helping recruit donors. Tran also discusses who is eligible to donate, how to prepare for a donation, what first-time donors can expect, and how ImpactLife makes the process easier for people who may be nervous about giving blood.
Melissa Snider:
Welcome to Community Voices, a production of NPR Illinois. I'm your co-host, Melissa Snider, in the studio with Teresa Tran. Teresa is the donor relations account manager for ImpactLife blood center. How are you doing today, Teresa?
Teresa Tran:
I'm doing so well. How are you?
Melissa Snider:
Awesome. Great. Happy to be in here with you.
Theresa Tran:
Absolutely.
Melissa Snider:
You have some blood drives coming up. A few happening on Thursday, October 1st and Friday, October 2nd. Tell me about impact to life.
Teresa Tran:
So ImpactLife, we are the local blood center. The blood that is collected in the region goes back to local hospitals. So in Springfield, we service Springfield Memorial and HSHS St. John's. If you donate in Jacksonville, that goes back to Jacksonville Memorial, same thing for Taylorville. It truly does go back into the community. I emphasize, make sure you know who you're donating with. There are lots of different blood donation services and companies. Some of them are nationwide. It's still very noble to donate blood to whichever organization. But when you are looking at the local regional ones, it does go back to your community. So if someone is a donor in Springfield and they're like, Teresa, I'm going to move to Colorado. And I say, okay, what city? So then I'll call that city's local blood center and say, hey, we've got somebody who is going to move to your city. Do you guys have any donor services or donor centers near him? So very, very particular on pushing local.
Melissa Snider:
Definitely. So you can give back to your community. I love it. I wanted to ask you, how did you get into this profession?
Teresa Tran:
I worked at a local health clinic in HR. Loved the job. It was amazing. And I got tasked to coordinate the blood drives at our locations. When I was coordinating, I was asked to be on the Impact Life Associate Board, which is essentially A volunteer board for community leaders to come up with ways we can create more blood drives. About a year into that associate board work, there was an opening for an account manager, and I said, I'm already doing this, so I might as well get on the back end and see how this truly works so we can be more effective with the donations that come in. After getting on the team, it is so eye-opening with all the back-end work that people have to do to be able to organize these blood drives, the scheduling, the phlebotomist, and the equipment and the vehicles. So I coordinate with any organization that will allow us to host a blood drive with them. We try to schedule out at least six weeks so we can schedule our equipment and our staff adequately for your specific drive. There are state agencies, churches, schools, schools are actually where we get the most donations. Regular donation from start to finish when it comes to screening all the way to getting your snack and drink afterwards, I would say that's 45 minutes. But as soon as that needle hits your skin, it's about 10 to 15 minute donation.
Melissa Snider:
It's not too bad.
Teresa Tran:
It's very, very amazing. And the way that the local schools have it, they have a great system to where we'll go on site the week before. I'll have a couple of kids help me go table to table at lunch and say, hey, sign up for this. And then those students get credits. So this is moving into the student impact award. Students can actually receive graduation cords if they get 6 credits. And those credits can include donating blood, volunteering at the blood drive, passing out snacks, passing out drinks, helping me at lunches, getting people recruited, even hosting their own blood drives. We do presentations where I go and I give them blood typing services, I prick their finger and I can tell them what blood type you are within two minutes. When I blood type students and they're like, oh, I'm B negative, I'm not special, I tell them, hey, I don't think you'd be saying that to a patient who needs your specific blood type. We talk to them about how blood donation is incredibly important because I look around the room and I said, who knows anyone who's had surgery? Because when surgeries happen, they have to have backup blood as well. Cancer patients and moms who are delivering babies, let's say they're hemorrhaging. Someone always knows somebody who's needed blood. Those stories hopefully incline those students to host their own blood drives, whether it be their Dungeons and Dragons group, whether it be their church, whether it be their sporting events, anything like that. If they are willing to have us on site or bring a bus to you.
Melissa Snider:
So when you're talking about your bus, are you talking about your mobile blood unit?
Teresa Tran:
Absolutely.
Melissa Snider:
When you go to high schools, is that what you bring or do you just set up kind of on-site there?
Teresa Tran:
It really depends on what the high school wants. We set up in the auditorium or in their gym or in their library. If they have a newly renovated space, maybe not. We will bring a bus and I think we can do about three to four people at a time. So throughout the day, they'll come out, donate blood in a parking lot. For high schoolers, it's so easy for them to donate because we bring the blood donation services to them to where they don't have to drive to the donor center. They don't have to miss a ton of school. If they want to open it up to the community, they will have students go the last couple hours of the day and then the blood mobile will open up to the community too. Any way that we can get the community involved as well. If the school gets 20 units or more for that blood drive, they get a life savings grant, which is $250 so that they can use on a scholarship. So we try to do incentives where we can just because we know how important it is for people to donate blood.
Melissa Snider:
We've got a nationwide competition for a $1 million grant awarded to a Big Ten school that recruits the most blood donors. So tell me a little bit about that.
Teresa Tran:
This is our third year doing it. is the Abbott and Big Ten We Give Blood Drive. It is a national competition, $1,000,000.
Melissa Snider:
That's a very high number.
Teresa Tran:
It is, it is.
Melissa Snider:
You could do a lot with that.
Teresa Tran:
So this year's competition offers anyone who locks their donation for the Big Ten school. We will give you a limited edition t-shirt representing your favorite school and you can go to bloodcenter.org backslash Big Ten for all the information. We're also doing something too. So anyone who is an alumni of any of the Big Ten, you can donate blood, whether it be at a mobile, an organization near you, or our donor center. And you can say, hey, I'm curious about the Big Ten. We'll give you information. Those who donate successfully get at least a $20 e-gift card through a text message or an email. And you scroll a little bit down and they say, do you want to be a part of the Big Ten competition? You can say yes, get your t-shirt, and then credit that specific school. Because I know that we don't have a Big Ten school in Springfield, but you can still be a part of it regardless of where you're at.
Melissa Snider:
So you have a few events coming up.
Teresa Tran:
Yeah, absolutely. Thursday, October 1st, we have Taylorville High School. Friday, October 2nd, we've got Riverton High School. And then that same day, we've got blood drive set up at Springfield Memorial Hospital over in their learning center. as well as HSHS St. John's, and that's a blood mobile in front of the entrance of the hospital. We try to bring the services to people so they don't have to go to the donor center. And we're very, very grateful to partner with people and organizations that are allowing their staff to go and donate. Something that I learned recently was depending on the state agencies, in the handbook, people are allowed to have one hour of donation every 56 days because that's how long it takes for blood to replenish. And I thought that was really cool. And that's how we're able to service these state agencies.
Melissa Snider:
That's awesome. For those of you just tuning in, you're listening to 91.9 UIA. Community Voices. I'm your co-host, Melissa Snider, in the studio with Teresa Tran. Teresa is the donor relations account manager for Impact Life Blood Center. Friday, there's so much opportunity to donate. Check it out. Is there a schedule that people can see online?
Teresa Tran:
People can go to bloodcenter.org, type in their zip code, and see what upcoming events there are. I know that Springfield Memorial, they have their blood drives the first Friday of every month. HSHS We are kind of on a similar schedule too. You'll have to look at the bloodcenter.org schedule to see if it's a blood mobile or if we're in a specific auditorium.
Melissa Snider:
Okay.
Teresa Tran:
But very, very worth it.
Melissa Snider:
Definitely. So when we talk about eligibility, who can donate and who can't?
Teresa Tran:
Anyone that is 16 and older. If you are 16 years old, you do need a consent form.
Melissa Snider:
How do you get that consent form?
Teresa Tran:
You can go to bloodcenter.org, type in parent consent form, download it, or if we already work with your organization, we will have already sent copies to the person organizing it and they will disperse it.
Melissa Snider:
Okay, and then they just bring those consent forms when they show up.
Teresa Tran:
Absolutely.
Melissa Snider:
Awesome.
Teresa Tran:
You also. need a photo ID. It could be a driver's license, a state ID, a school ID, and it also could be a work ID too. And we want to make sure that you weigh at least 110 pounds. We truly, truly do push for you to eat a healthy dinner the night before your blood donation, including a healthy breakfast or a breakfast the morning of. or a fortified meal within four hours of your blood donation. Because if you're not fortified with nutrition and we're taking blood from you, might feel a little bit dizzy and we do not want that to happen because we want you to have the very, very, very best day after you donate blood. We have to make sure that you're eating well and drinking water, not just the day before, but a couple days beforehand as well.
Melissa Snider:
Awesome. And then in terms of restrictions on who can donate.
Teresa Tran:
A lot of people used to think that just because because I recently got a tattoo, I have to wait three months. We have worked with legislation to where now, if you recently got a tattoo in a state licensed facility, you are okay to donate. If you end up getting a tattoo in a friend's basement, maybe we'll wait a couple of months to see if it does cause an infection or anything. We truly do test the blood prior to giving it to the patients who need it. So we are very careful with our donors blood. Also, the day of, if you are pregnant, we want you and baby to have all the blood. People ask how often they can donate. We say every 56 days because that is the amount of time where you'll replenish all of your red blood cells that we take from you. There are these things called double reds. Essentially, that is a little bit longer of a procedure. We are taking the double amount of red blood cells, but we're giving back your white blood cells in your plasma with saline and that is 112 days until you can donate again. So 56 days for regular whole blood and then 112 days for double reds. Something that would really help speed the process up is if you know that you've got a blood donation coming up the morning of your donation, you can Google impact life early Q. So essentially that is your two minute medical intake questionnaire. That really helps us figure out, okay, well, did you take medicine? If so, what medicine was it? Have you traveled to a specific country? If so, what country was it? Just things like that. And if you have an appointment, we'll email you the early Q link around 4 o'clock that morning so you can fill it out before your donation time. But it has to be the morning of your specific donation date. And if you do fill it out, there is a QR code at the end of the please screenshot it. If you don't and it refreshes, you are going to lose your answers and you have to do it again. Time is precious and I don't want you to have to go all through all that work again. Yes.
Melissa Snider:
Well, thank you for the tip. We appreciate that. Absolutely. So people can register online before they show up. That's recommended. If somebody doesn't register online, say they just heard about this last minute maybe and want to donate blood anyway, can they register when they get there?
Teresa Tran:
They can register when they get there. So what will happen is they'll walk in, they say, hey, I'd like to donate blood. And then our team will just sit down with the computer, get all the medical intake in, do your blood pressure screening and your temperature, and then also check if you have enough hemoglobin to donate that day.
Melissa Snider:
Awesome. If somebody's interested in donating, they don't have to go to one of these events. You have a location that operates daily.
Teresa Tran:
So we have a donor center over on Wabash, 1999, Wabash Avenue, right next to Goodwill. The hours vary, so definitely make sure you Google it and see what hours the blood center is open. You can go into the donor center on Wabash and say, hey, I'm donating and crediting Taylorville High School. And then we'll be able to get that credit back to the school so they can possibly get their life savings grant. So every number counts. We do walk-ins and we do appointments as well. We encourage appointments just so we can best staff the day.
Melissa Snider:
Is there a type of blood that has a higher need?
Teresa Tran:
That's actually a really good question. So we have our universal donor, which is O negative and that blood type can give to anyone.
Melissa Snider:
Okay.
Teresa Tran:
So, whenever there's a scheduled surgery or even traumas at the hospital, so you literally have a kit with O negative blood in it. So we can just skip the blood typing and get the patients what they need as fast as they can. We do have a lower supply of O negative blood. We have a less than two day supply of O positive blood. So we are doing a call for O positive blood. O positive can donate to all the positive blood types. So like your A positive, your B positive, your AB positive. So if you are either of the O's, we will take you. And if you know anyone who are O's, invite them. Invite them to donate blood with you because it's always fun when you do it with a friend. But we always need every single type of blood. So please come at least once to see how easy it is to donate. If you prep right, you will have a great time.
Melissa Snider:
Do you have any words of encouragement for somebody who might want to give blood, but they might be a little afraid to do so?
Teresa Tran:
You don't have to look at the needle.
Melissa Snider:
Perfect. That is great advice. I know that gets people a lot. So you don't have to look at the needle. We love that. It doesn't take too long.
Teresa Tran:
It doesn't take too long. If you do the pre-register early Q link before you even get there, that shades off 20 minutes. As soon as the needle touches your arm, It's 10, 15 minutes of you being in the donation chair.
Melissa Snider:
Do you have some virtual reality glasses that people wear when they're donating?
Teresa Tran:
That's actually something that we just implemented. If someone is uneasy, we bring those to the high schools. It's like this little game that we coded. It really helps them relax so people can wear them before they donate or during donation. And the feedback has been great. So if it's one thing that we can help alleviate when it comes to stress, we will try to find different ways to do that for you.
Melissa Snider:
Well that is a great incentive. Takes your mind off of it a little bit.
Teresa Tran:
We want to make blood donation as easy as possible for the donors. Thursday, October 1st, we have Taylorville High School. That following day, Friday, October 2nd, we've got Riverton High School. When it comes to the high schools, parents, please encourage your kids if they are brave enough to donate blood, it will help them get a graduation cord as well as a certificate, which looks great on resumes and college applications. And then that Friday, Springfield Memorial Hospital has their blood drive at the Learning Center from 12 to 4, and HSHS St. John's has their blood mobile in front of the entrance from 11 to 2.
Melissa Snider:
Bring your IDs, fill out those consent forms, and head on over.
Teresa Tran:
Absolutely, and we will welcome you with open arms.
Melissa Snider:
Awesome. Once again, Teresa Tran with ImpactLife. Thank you for coming in today.
Teresa Tran:
No, thank you.
Melissa Snider:
Of course, it's been great.
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