By Amanda Baker, Communications Intern, Stanford Blood Center
Communities around the globe require a safe and plentiful blood supply, and the need for blood transfusions affects patients worldwide. With this in mind, Stanford Blood Center, along with Sacramento's BloodSource and Northern California Community Blood Center, is teaming up with the Safe Blood Africa Project to bring safe blood programs to Nigeria.
By Julie Ruel, Social Media Manager, Stanford Blood Center
The marketing group at SBC recently had the privilege of working with a group of students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business studying brands and user experiences. The class, called B.E.S.T. (brands, experiences, and social technology), was given the task of observing consumers in a natural setting, evaluating their findings, then offering insights intended to help tighten the gap between what consumers need to make for a positive experience with a company, organization, etc. and what that brand offers.
By Billie Rubin, Hemoglobin's Catabolic Cousin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center
It turns out that sharks are not just robust killers of the ocean but that they have robust immune systems, too. Who knew? They rarely fall prey to infections and are exceptionally resilient. According to studies at La Trobe University in Melbourne, their antibodies can attach themselves to human cancer cells and actually stop them from spreading. It may also be possible that their antibodies could be used to fight other conditions such as malaria or rheumatoid arthritis.
I looked at the date of my last plasma/platelet donation: March 7, 2011. It was August now I realized and as I blinked at the date, it seemed impossible to remember what life was like just those few short months ago there seemed to be such a gaping hole in reality and time. Within weeks of that donation in March, my Mom and I, together with the love of her life Alec, would celebrate her 60th birthday in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit waiting for her operation to repair a heart valve and to replace 2 artificial ones.
By Billie Rubin, Hemoglobin's Catabolic Cousin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center
You may have heard of geometric shapes that are infinitely complex like clouds or snowflakes, but there's also our complicated little ABO (blood group) system.
By Julie Ruel, Social Media Manager, Stanford Blood Center
About every two seconds somebody in the U.S. needs blood. An estimated 38% of the population is eligible to give blood at any given time but less than 10% actually do. So blood centers must work hard to keep a constant supply on their shelves and ready to go. And as you know, we all rely on the support of generous volunteer donors. At Stanford Blood Center (SBC) specifically, we provide blood only to local hospitals and depend on the busy Bay Area folks (of which just 3% are active blood donors) to keep our inventory healthy.
Mike Wu was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) in January, 2003, after complain- ing to his doctor about persistent abdominal pain. It was one week before his wed- ding. He began taking a laundry list of prescribed medications that compromised his immune system; he lost about 30 pounds. He and his fiance, Jennifer, postponed the wedding so Mike could get better.
My name is Gary Davis and I would like to share my experiences donating blood with my daughter Katie.
By Amanda Baker, Communications Intern, Stanford Blood Center
On Tuesday, Stanford Blood Center (SBC) hosted an encore of the Giving Blood Works promotion at our Hillview Center. This event brought together donors, recruiters, and career counselors for an evening including a networking techniques seminar, a chance to meet with recruiters from local companies, and an opportunity to sign up for half-hour resume critiques with career experts Lisa Stotlar and Ellen Shulman from CareerGenerations.
Daniel Paepcke first started giving blood in January, 2003. Eight and a half years and 199 donations later, Daniel paid his regular visit to the Campus Center and made his 200th donation. Quite an accomplishment for the young man who at age 27, is one of our youngest donors to reach this milestone.