Blood Bank of Hawaii
Giving blood costs nothing and yet this gift is
the most precious – a life-or-death donation for someone
who needs a transfusion. HMSA, a proud member of the Blood
Bank of Hawaii’s Lifesaver Club, holds five blood drives
each year at the HMSA Center.
On each of these five days, HMSA employees donate more than
60 pints of blood, or more than 300 pints each year. HMSA has
been holding employee blood drives since 1978.
Blood can be used in its natural form or separated into
plasma, platelets, and red blood cells, depending on the type
of surgery a patient needs. For example, a patient undergoing
heart surgery will need six pints of whole blood and six pints
of platelets. A person injured in an automobile accident may
need 50 pints of blood. And the patient getting a bone marrow
transplant requires 20 pints of whole blood and 120 pints of platelets.
You can imagine that a busy operating room uses a lot of blood
each day – potentially all that HMSA employees have donated in
a year. This underscores the importance of donating blood. Luckily,
HMSA has many healthy employees who are willing to give this special gift.
