Mary Ortner Neve understands how important it is to donate blood. The Tomah resident was one of 64 people who donated blood during a two-day Tomah Health/ Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin drive at Tomah Recreation Park.
Since she had a high hemoglobin count, Ortner Neve made a double red cell donation, which allows donors to donate two units of red blood cells thereby giving more product that is needed most by patients. “If I’m qualified for it, I think that it gives them the opportunity to get more donations,” she said. “I also travel a lot, so I have to wait a longer time in between donations, but it allows me to travel and then I can come back and give blood again and I’m not missing one of my donation times.” It was the second time she made a double red donation.
A double red cell donation is like a whole blood donation, except a special machine is used to allow the donor to safely donate two units of red blood cells during one donation while returning plasma and platelets to the donor and saving time. Double red cell donation takes approximately 30 minutes longer than a whole blood donation and a person can donate approximately every four months.
Mary’s donation was also special since she was able to give blood in memory of a special friend. “A former co-worker and friend of mine relied very heavily on blood donations because of a medical need that he had, and he passed away just in the last couple weeks,” she explained. “For me to be able to donate blood in his memory was very important to me.”
Versiti account representative Garron Bowers said collections during Jan. 14 & 15 drive will help 189 patients at community hospitals, like Tomah Health. “The people of Tomah have once again shown that they understand the continuing need for blood in our local hospitals. It is really encouraging to see the community step up to meet this need and help save the lives of their neighbors,” added Bowers. He said more than 50% of Versiti’s blood supply comes from drives like the ones held in Tomah.
Versiti Blood Center is the sole blood supplier to over 60 hospital systems in Wisconsin including Tomah Health, which she said added to her decision to donate. “I think it’s very important. It’s one of the reasons that I choose to donate to Versiti as opposed to other blood drives.”
Ortner Neve said she plans to keep donating and encouraged others to donate too. “I’ll continue to donate because I feel like it’s a very simple thing that I can do regularly to help others in need and someday it might be me that’s in need,” she said. “I would like to think that there are others who have that same mindset that I’ll help others because in the future it might also help me. It is really a simple way to do something good for the rest of the world, especially today, it’s nice to be able to feel like you’re doing something positive for the community.”
Tomah Health marketing and public relations director Eric Prise acknowledged support from the Tomah Parks & Recreation Dept. for use of the facilities at Recreation Park for the drive. “We are especially thankful to parks & recreation director Joe Protz and his staff for hosting all of our drives,” he said. The next Versiti / Tomah Health drive will also be held at Recreation Park March 18 & 19.