The Wasatch Girl » platelets

Volunteer Work (August & September): ARUP Blood Services & University Venture Fund

WasatchGirl — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:12:21 +0000

I haven’t posted up about my weekly volunteer work lately, not because I haven’t been volunteering, but rather because I have been working with the same two organizations for the last couple months. I continue to donate platelets on a bi-weekly basis (health and iron levels permitting) with Arup Blood Services (also known as Utah Blood) and spend the other weeks with the University Venture Fund.

My friend, Pang, and I showing off our donor bandages.

I have written about ARUP Blood Services numerous times as this is my favorite volunteer experience. You can read some of my previous posts here, here and here. I will put in yet another plug, though, that they are always looking for blood and platelet donors as they are the sole providers for many of the local hospitals (including Huntsman Cancer Institute). You can get more information from their site.

The University Venture Fund is another great organization, a student ran venture capital firm with $18m to invest. (You can read a previous post of mine here.) If you are a student based in Utah, this is an excellent opportunity and I would greatly urge you to get involved. If you are an investor, consider partnering with this group. They provide free due diligence with the hopes of piggy-backing on investments.

Have any of you readers volunteered this week? If so, with what organizations?

Volunteer Work (Week of May 21): Utah Blood

WasatchGirl — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:15:46 +0000

My all time favorite volunteer experience is donating platelets through Utah Blood. I tried to donate on two occasions during this week and was unfortunately turned away due to a slight sore throat (even though I think it was allergy related). Bummer I couldn’t volunteer, but I understand their need to ad her to strict health rules. Though I couldn’t donate, I still wanted to post some information on Utah Blood.

Utah Blood (also known as ARUP Blood Services) is the sole provider of blood to Huntsman Cancer, Primary Children’s Hospital, Shriner’s Hospital for Children and University of Utah Hospital and Clinics. These four (out of the total of 43) Utah hospitals represent 25% of the needed blood in Utah with any donations made directly helping someone within the SLC community.

Utah Blood is constantly trying to expand their platelet donor base as they need 25 people a day to fulfill the platelet needs within these four hospitals. A platelet donation can be a bit more time consuming than a blood donation, taking anywhere from 80 minutes to 2 hours, but donors are constantly needed due to the short shelf life, a mere 5 days, of platelets.

For more information visit their site, subscribe to their Blood Blog, join their Facebook page or follow their twitter stream. Or to make an appointment at their Research Park or Murray location, call 801-584-5272.