Evening star., 1945-03-26
Community Blood Bank Here
Began With Hospital Tragedy
By GEORGE KENNEDY,

Washington is one of the four
cities in the country with Com
munity Blood Bank and the avail
ability of its stock of blood plasma
and fresh blood is due to tragedy
that occurred last year at Garfield
Hospital, DR.. Roger M. Choisser,
president of the blood bank revealed
today.
DR.. Choisser, who is a pathologist
at the George Washington Univers-
ity School of Medicine took time
from peering at glass slides smeared
with human tissue to tell the story.
Physicians have long desired to
have stocks of blood available at
hospitals for immediate trans
fusions," he said, ever since arti-
fetal refrigeration has made possible
keeping plasma for years and whole
blood for as much as two weeks.
Cincinnati, Detroit and Miami
have such banks. Washington has
last October
I'VE are always able to get blood
donors-in time. But sometimes
they are needed Immediately.
Midnight Call Fails.
Last summer young wife in the
delivery room at Garfield began to
hemorrhage. A call was sent out for
blood donors 1t was in the middle
of the night. None could be located.
The woman did not get TRANSMISSION
for 10 hours. She died.
Her husband came in to see us
and ask if something could not be
done to avoid things like that hap
peni1g in the future. ...
There was in Washington a stock
Of 1000 bottles of blood plasma-a
stock built up for a possible commu-
nifty disaster due to an enemy air
raid. " +....
THE Civilian Defense organiza-
ton built up this stock over period
of five months after Pearl Harbor.
The Central. Labor Union (AFL)
| financed the project Fred S. Walker,
an official of the union, sent out
calls to members of the carpenters
and other unions to donate blood.
Dr. John A. Reed, chief medical
officer of Civilian Defense, sent out
calls for policemen and firemen. We
did not want to make a public ap-
peal for blood that would compete
with the Red Cross blood bank.
We made appeals through the hos
pitals and nurses and we finally
reached the 1000 unit quota.
Nucleus Formed.
Last summer the danger of an
air raid seemed to be over so when
the consequences of not having in
our hospitals stocks of plasma for
Immediate transfusions was brought
to our attention in such a tragic way
we obtained the permission of the
Commissioners to use the 1900 units
as the nucleus of a community
blood bank
| I'VE also obtained the Commits
sioners' permission to use the Police
and Fire Clinic, 1913 Thirteenth
street NV, as a place where donors
could give blood.
Our plan to keep up the stock
of plasma without competing with
the Red Cross blood bank was this:
A charge of SIS would be made for
each unit transfused in q hospital.
But the family of the patient would
be given a card stating that the SIS
Eper unit charge would be reduced
to $50, if the family or friends
donated a pint of blood for every
unit Of plasma transfused.
I'VE hoped that the donations of
blood, kept by refrigeration as whole
blood for two weeks, would give us
constant bank of whole blood for
shock transfusions, where whole
blood is so much more helpful in
saving lives.
Many Content to Pay.
But, we have found that while
400 units from our stock of 1000
have been used for transfusions in
hospitals, people for the most part
have been content with paying the
SIS unit charge and not reducing
it by donating blood in return. The
400 units used in the hospitals
brought in only 100 return donations.
So our blood banks stock has been
reduced to 1.700 units.
"At the Doctors Hospital, for In
stance, to which doctors send their
well-to-do patients, almost all the
people concerned seem to be content
to pay the SIS charge and hardly
any donations result.
We have been eonsiderl ) trying