May 25, 2012
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY of SOUTH CAROLINA
Vol. 30, No. 39
Need Blood? You can bank on it at MUSC BY DAWN BRAZELL Public Relations
D
espite the occasional vampire joke, Jerry Squires, M.D., Ph.D., practically gushes about his job. The former national medical director of the American Red Cross came to MUSC four years ago to “get back to the patients” in his position as medical director of transfusion and associate professor of pathology. Squires said he was drawn to the field because of his interest in pathology and teaching and wasn’t put off by working in a blood bank as some of his colleagues were. “Transfusions save lives every day here. But transfusion, like many medical therapies, carry some risk. It is this knowledge that makes every person working in the transfusion service so focused on doing a good job and on doing what is best for the patient,” he said. Leading a tour of MUSC’s Blood Bank, Squires explained what a huge undertaking it is to keep a Level I trauma center, such as MUSC, always prepared for whatever emergency might arrive. He points to a board listing blood types, with the amount of units stocked in each. All donors are welcomed, but particularly type O, since this universal blood type may go to anyone. Other blood types are more restricted as they must be matched for a safe transfusion. “We have 60 units of O, so we’re good,” he said, noting the bank has a minimum level it tries to keep within each blood type. “But we can have a patient come in by helicopter in a big trauma case and that stock is gone.” A single car accident victim can require as many as 100 pints of blood. Other areas of great need for transfusion are patients with cancer and sickle cell disease. Sickle cell affects more than 80,000 people in the nation, many of whom have to have frequent blood transfusions throughout their lives. More than
See BANK on page 6
2
SCHOLAR REMEMBERED Dr. Gene Burges, an MUSC alumna and VA dermatologist, died May 5 after a long illness.
Left, employees tour MUSC’s Blood Bank where Dr. Jerry Squires and Karen Garner, manager of transfusion services, dqor jeqhfpklhu tl klq vqwi smnc receives about 40,000 units of blood and blood products from the American Red Cross, about 60 percent, red blood cell units; 20 percent, plasma units; 18 percent, platelet apheresis; and 2 percent, cryoprecipitate.
7
SPECIAL-NEEDS CLINIC
4
Applause Program
A College of Dental Medicine graduate donates $1.5 million.
5
Meet Mack
10
Medical Center Excellence
READ THE CATALYST ONLINE - http://www.musc.edu/catalyst