Blood Centers as Community Health Resources
Program Code: 419-TC
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
10:30 AM to 12:00 PM (ET)

MODERATOR
Richard Davey, MD, Food and Drug Administration

SPEAKERS
Ronald O. Gilcher, MD, FACP, Oklahoma Blood Institute
John Su, M.D., Ph.D., Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Richard Davey, MD, Food and Drug Administration

DESCRIPTION
This session will seek to expand the concept of the community blood center from a provider of blood products to an active participant in donor and community health. Blood centers encounter several hundred donors each day. These donors can benefit not only from the personal satisfaction of helping others, but from careful attention to information that can affect their own health. Specific information about blood pressure and hemoglobin determinations are easy to implement and have major health implications. Other screening tests not required for donation, such as cholesterol and PSA determinations, can provide additional useful information. Considerations of cost, logistics and medical liability must be considered before these programs are initiated.