| Syringa
employees step up to help with blood donations
Syringa Hospital & Clinics’ (SHC) employees joined together to roll up their sleeves in effort to aid a needed cause last Wednesday. Vitalant (formerly known as Inland Northwest Blood Center) reported an unprecedented number of blood drive cancellations of over 1,400 in March, resulting in a loss of 41,000 units which represents 20% of the blood supply expected for the month. To help combat this issue SHC hosted a special blood drive on site last week targeting employees. The drive had great participation; 42 people checked in and 35 units were collected! 77% of those were employees, and the rest were family and friends invited by employees. This drive was even larger than most of SHC’s regularly scheduled community drives held five times a year. Although the need for blood has somewhat decreased due to elective surgeries being postponed, there is always a need of blood supply for ongoing medical conditions such as expectant mothers and their newborns, cancer patients and others dependent on transfusions, emergency surgery for accident/trauma victims, those who are ill with kidney, liver or gastrointestinal diseases, and those already in ICUs, among many others. Blood drives are safe to have, and donations are essential. According to their website, “Vitalant has strict measures in place to ensure only healthy donors are giving blood.” For more information on what Vitalant is doing to keep their donors and staff safe, visit https://www.vitalant.org/COVID-FAQs. There have been so many examples of our staff going above and beyond to take care of our community, and this is yet another example of the wonderful, giving people on Team Syringa! -Dana Greig Syringa Hospital & Clinics Marketing & Community Relations Coordinator 
Abner King, SHC CEO, donates along with SHC employee Janice Grumley. Photo submitted by Dana Grieg. |
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