World Blood Donor Day is celebrated every June 14 to raise awareness about the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank blood donors for their voluntary, lifesaving gifts.
As the official military provider of blood products to the U.S. armed forces and military community, the Armed Services Blood Program honors donors who help ensure mission readiness.
"Outside of the blood industry and medical world, blood is not generally thought of until it's not there or needed," said Army Col. Audra Taylor, ASBP's division chief. "It would not be possible for for ASBP to fulfill its mission if not for our donors – they’re the heart of our program."
That mission involves providing quality blood products and services for military health care operations worldwide in both peace and war. Doing so requires the ASBP, a Defense Health Agency joint service operation, to -- collect, process, store, distribute, and transfuse blood and products to ill or injured service members, their families, retirees, and veterans around the world.
"We focus on equipping the war fighter with the lifesaving blood and blood products they need on the battlefield as well as in military medical treatment facilities (MTF) worldwide," added Taylor.
For Army Lt. Col. Jason Corley, director of the Army Blood Program, blood is all about a ready medical force, one of the DHA's missions.
"Medical providers must have blood on-hand in case it's needed for casualty resuscitation," he said. "Providers and deployed medical forces are not considered capable if they don't have their required blood inventory."
Additionally, "ensuring a ready medical force requires thinking of all the things it takes to stand ready in supply, in capability, and in emergencies," said Taylor.
As such, ensuring MTFs have immediate and easy access to safe and viable blood and blood products globally is vital.
"Blood is a critical resource needed for successful combat casualty care," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Erica Nance, ASBP's branch chief of Global Health Engagement. "The Department of Defense has a global presence, and military medicine is present where our U.S. forces operate."
She explained the ASBP collaborates with other organizations that collectively develop strategies to improve blood safety and increase access to safe blood products. In addition, "there are ASBP Joint Blood Program Officers within each DOD Combatant Command, who also play an essential role in building partnerships with militaries around the global to support the blood mission," she said.
Getting Blood to Recipients
To guarantee the blood's quality and viability, the ASBP must ensure it gets to recipients within tight timeframes.
"From date of collection, units are processed - including testing - and ready for shipment within 96 hours," said Corley. "Upon shipment from the blood donor center within that window, the blood could arrive at a garrison MTF within the continental United States and in-patient inventory the next day."
Shipping blood to overseas MTFs, such as Joint Task Force Bravo at Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; or the Multinational Observer Force at the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, for example, can take between 6-10 days to arrive in theater and extra days for onward shipment to forward-deployed forces, said Corley.