Being drained in a good cause, first-time blood donor Cinnamon Costello and fourth-time donor
Randy Durand helped contribute part of the 490 units collected in a recent Terrace clinic held by

the Red Cross.

Blood clinic sucks 1,400 units

by Harriett Rjangesund

The Canadian Red Cross
Society was more than happy
with last week’s three-day blood
donor clinics in the Northwest.

A total of 1,400 units of blood

was collected, much more than
they had anticipated.

Kitimat residents won out
over Terrace and Prince Rupert
by donating a total of 536 pints;
Terrace residents donated 490
pints, Prince Rupert residents
424.

There was an added bonus for
Terrace residents Richard
McDaniels and Hans Menthey,
both long-time donors. They
were each presented with cer-
tificates of appreciation by
Vesta Douglas on behalf of the
Canadian Red Cross Society. As
_ of last Wednesday, McDaniels
has donated a total of 73 pints
(he is a regular donor at Mills
Memorial. Hospital) and Hans
Menthey 36.

Terrace was one of three
clinics operating around the
province on July 11. The Red
Cross is able to operate up to
four on any given. day, There are
806 blood donor clinics in B.C.
each year covering 53 different

communities. Owing to high ex-
penditures, the clinic can only
travel to areas where the
numbers of donors are high. The
collection team is from the Van-
couver area and are all trained
staff.

Just over 157,000 hours was
spent in collecting blood in 1989.
It takes over 100 volunteers in
B.C, alone.

Of the 35 percent of eligible
blood donors in the province,
only four and a half percent
donate.

All equipment used in the col-
lection process is used only once
and then immediately destroyed.
The blood is allowed to sit at
room temperature for half an
hour to bring it down from body
temperature, then refrigerated
for another half hour. It is then
packed inside styrofoam con-
tainers, which are packed inside
cardboard boxes along with an
ice pack to keep the blood at a
constant temperature of four
degrees Celsius.

Early the next morning it is
flown to Vancouver, where it
undergoes rigorous testing.
Canada now has one of the most

extensive screening processes in
the world. Approximately 13
different tests are done, every-
thing from rare antibodies and
hepatitis to syphilis and the anti-
body to HIV (Human Immune-
deficiency Virus, the cause of
AIDS). The blood cannot be re-
leased until testing is completed;
if there is anything wrong with
the blood it is discarded.

After testing is complete, the
blood is broken down into red
blood cells and plasma. Red
blood cells are used in surgical
treatments, including trans-
plants, and plasma is used for
burn victims. The blood can be
broken down further for people
with blood disorders.

Once again Terrace businesses
challenged one another, The
Under-10 Employees was won
by All West Glass Terrace Ltd.
(all nine employees donated
blood). The Over-10 Employees
was won by Terrace Health
Care, which includes Mills
Memorial Hospital and Terrace-
view Lodge. Each will be pre-
sented with a plaque at a later
date.

McDonald’s defends styrofoam

Five Grade 4 students at
Thornhill Elementary were con-
cerned enough about the en-
vironment to do something
about it. As an Earth Day pro-
ject, they wrote letters to
McDonald’s voicing their con-
cern about the restaurant’s use
of polystyrene foam packaging
for their food products.

McDonald’s: head office
answered with an Environmen-
tal Action Pack in which they
explained that their foam
packaging is 100 percent
recyclable, does not change
composition in the landfill, and
breaks-apart into smailer pieces
that actually. helps aerate landfill
soil.

The five students - Adam
Vienneau, Steven Tenveen, Troy
Straw, Tamara Harkonen, and a
fifth student who was too shy to

give her name - said they were |

satisfied with the response they
received.

Terrace Review —

Wednesday, July 18, 1990

cal

A group of Thornhill Elementary School students wrote to
McDonald’s restaurants as part of an Earth Day project,
expressing.concem about styrofoam packaging. They recently got
an answer.

THE GENEROSITY OF THE Tuberculosis and Chest Disabled
Veterans’ Association helped provide Mills Memorial Hospital with
a new ventilator for its intensive care unit.

New breather for MMH

by Harriett Fjaagesund

“loi

Thanks to the Tuberculous
and Chest Disabled Veterans’
Association, Mills Memorial
Hospital now has a new
breathing aid ventilator machine
for the intensive care unit . The
TB Veterans’ donated
$23,207.73 towards the ven-
tilator. The remaining balance
(full cost of the machine was
$40,080.30) was picked up by
the province and the regional
hospital district.

Looking a little like a runaway
from a Star Wars set, the
Puritan’4 Bennett Model 7200A
Microprocessor Ventilator is a
piece of modern technology that
borders on the miraculous.

A few of the many functions it
performs for each individual pa-
tient are mixing the percentage
and volume of humidified ox-
ygen received, providing a con-
tinuous flow of oxygen for pa-

tients who cannot breathe on |
their own, or an intermittent sup-
ply for patients who need only
some help in breathing. It is also
capable of keeping continuous
pressure in the airways.

And because the display of

patient data is considerably easier
to read (definitely an improve-
ment over the old ventilator), it
makes the doctors’ and nurses’
job of caring for each individual
a little easier.
_ Michael Leisinger, director of
Mills Memorial Hospital, said
the R.E.M. Lee Hospital Foun-
dation contacted the TB
Veterans’ Association about a
possible replacement ventilator,
and on May | he received a
cheque in the mail. He added that
without the financial aid of the
TB Veterans’ Association the
hospital would not have been
able to purchase the ventilator.

B.C. Tel wishes to advise that the
switching conversion scheduled for
June 28 in Lakelse has been delayed.
We regret any inconvenience the delay
may cause for customers who were
‘looking forward to using the features
provided by the new equipment. B.C.
Tel will make the delay as short as
possible and will advise our Lakelse
customers of the new conversion date.

BC.

WT..|