Walking blood banks: the battlefield life-savers

Photo By Sgt. Gloria Lepko | A Navy Corpsman takes blood samples for prescreening during a Walking Blood Bank training program at Camp Lejeune, N.C., June 21, 2017. Service members learned how they can donate blood in a deployed setting when blood supply is unavailable. The Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers are with 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, the Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune Laboratory Department, and Blood Donor Centers at Fort Gordon, Ga., Fort Bliss, Texas, and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.. ( U.S. Marine Corps phot by Lance Cpl. Gloria Lepko)  

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, UNITED STATES

06.21.2017

Story by Lance Cpl. Gloria Lepko 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

Marines and Sailors teamed up with Soldiers to prescreen blood samples during a Walking Blood Bank training exercise at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, June 21.
Soldiers from Fort Gordon, Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Bliss taught service members from 2nd Medical Battalion and the Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune Laboratory Department what to do when blood supplies run out on the battlefield
Medical personnel can only take a limited amount of blood supply on a mission. This program shows them how to collect from each other once they’ve used up the amount they have.
“The goal of the drive is to identify the most ideal, or the most-safe individuals within a deploying or soon-to-deploy unit,” said Commander Les Riggs, commanding officer of Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group. “When you have somebody that is injured, if the blood supply is not available or even exhausted, you have an ever-ready blood supply in your personnel.”
The service members drew blood for infectious disease prescreening according to the current regulatory guidelines of the Drug Administration. This process increases the safety of deploying units when down range by allowing them to know ahead of time which service members can donate blood to their teammates in an emergency situation.
“This gives them the ability to make sure that the blood products that would be transfused down range would be safe, and expedites the turnaround process of getting fresh blood for the troops that need it,” said Army Staff Sgt. Sean McAvinue, a Fort Leonard Wood medic at the General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital. “This builds reliance and trust on each other because it’s no longer just a donor unit. You know it’s somebody from your unit and you’re working together on this.”
The process gives units more flexibility while deployed because they will have more resources to save casualties in a battle scenario.
“What the Marines are learning today is how to take this program with them wherever they need to go. If the blood supply is cut off, the Marines will know how to set up a similar process and implement it in times of need,” said Major Jim Burke, director of Fort Leonard Wood Blood Donor Center. “Blood is life. Without blood, life can’t sustain. So, it’s important that we always have a constant supply.”
The collaboration between the services for the Walking Blood Bank training focuses on creating more efficient ways to save lives.
“The Marine Corps, the Navy, and the Army have come together to implement a new way of doing things so that in the future we’re better,” said Riggs. “It’s just a matter of readiness, and it’s a significant tool in our tool box.”

• Date Taken: 06.21.2017
• Date Posted: 06.22.2017 15:30
• Story ID: 238854
• Location: MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, US