Mineral Wells Area News

By Gary Norman / Special to Mineral Wells Area News

Palo Pinto General Hospital, in partnership with Carter BloodCare, held their bi-monthly blood drive on Monday, March 3, 2025 where thirty-two life-saving pints were collected. 

Carter BloodCare brought two of their staffed bloodmobiles to the hospital parking lot from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM to collect donations from area residents and hospital employees.

Carter BloodCare is a non-profit blood bank serving North, Central, and East Texas. They provide 440,000 blood products annually to over 200 healthcare facilities located in fifty-seven counties, including Palo Pinto County. 

They have twenty-five donor centers, host approximately seven-thousand blood drives per year and between twenty-five and thirty mobile blood drives per day.  

Megan Hudson, Palo Pinto General Hospital Director of Marketing and Foundation, commented, “Right now there is a critical need for blood. Once you have been here and have given blood, you get automatic reminders of when the blood bus will be here next and, when there is a critical need, they will send a text out asking anyone and everyone who can to please donate.”  

The Carter BloodCare mobile buses are designed to facilitate the blood collection process. 

It begins as donors enter a side door near the rear of the van and undergo prescreening where information is gathered regarding a donor’s general health, recent travel history, and medications taken.  Some health conditions, recent travel to locations with health advisories, and the use of certain medications can preclude an individual from being able to give blood. 

The donor’s temperature, pulse rate, and blood pressure are then recorded to make sure no immediate conditions exist that may prevent donation.

Afterwards, once the donor has qualified, they move to the center of the bus where they are reclined on a cushioned couch with their arm placed on an attached rest, and a needle is inserted into a vein on the inside of the arm through which the blood flows naturally to a plastic collection device. 

Once a pint has been collected, the needle is removed and discarded while the plastic container is placed in an iced-down cooler for later collection and transportation back to Carter BloodCare’s central facility in Bedford, Texas.

The donor is then moved to an area in the front portion of the bus where they can rest, have some liquids and a snack, and receive a gift for their donation.  Afterwards, when they feel ready, the donor exits at another side door near the front of the bus. 

When asked how long it takes for a person to donate blood, Megan Hudson further observed, “It usually takes me about thirty minutes and then you do have to sit for five to ten minutes afterwards to make sure you don’t get light-headed or anything.”  

Once the blood is delivered to Carter BloodCare’s facility in Bedford, Texas, it undergoes further testing with some of the donated units being placed in a centrifuge and divided into red cells, platelets, and plasma. 

Colleen Horan, Field Recruitment Consultant with Carter BloodCare, commented, “What we say is one donation can save up to three lives.” 

Red cells, used to increase blood volume, can be refrigerated and used for up to forty-two days.  Plasma, often used to treat burn victims, can be frozen and is viable for up to one year, while platelets, important in the treatment of cancer patients, can be used for up to five days.  

Phyllis Lister, a fifty-four-year resident of Mineral Wells, has been donating blood for over thirty years. 

She commented, “I know that the life is in the blood, that is what the Bible says, and people can’t live without blood, and I happen to have O-negative blood, which is universal, and anyone can use my blood.”   

When asked if she would recommend that other people give blood, she replied, “I do.  It really is so easy, and I have never had any problems doing it.  It is something I can do, I think it is important, so I just keep doing it.”

Palo Pinto Hospital and Carter BloodCare hold their blood drives on the first Monday of every other month.  Their next two blood drives are planned to be held at Palo Pinto General Hospital from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM on both Monday, May 5, 2025 and Monday, July 7, 2025.