| Armed Services Blood Program Newsletter |
3 September 2009 |
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From the Desk of:
COL Francisco Rentas, Director, ASBPO
This month's edition of the Armed Services Blood Program Newsletter highlights recent developments in the Army Blood Program-a strong partner in the ASBP tri-service organization-and begins by introducing COL Ronny Fryar, the new leader of the Army Blood Program. I extend my personal best wishes and welcome COL Fryar, an outstanding blood banker, who, I know, will pursue his mission with dedication and vigor. The new Fort Bragg donor center is starting to take shape and we continue to follow the adventures of Jim and Linda Parker with a new website feature. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to take care of our customers! It is showing in all of the metrics we follow.
Warm regards,
COL Francisco Rentas
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New Appointment
COL Ronny Fryar
 COL Ronny Fryar joins the Army Blood Program as their new Director, replacing the now retired LTC Michael Lopatka. With over 20 years of military service and more than 25 years of experience in clinical labs and blood banks, COL Fryar brings a wealth of experience and passion to the Army Blood Program.
COL Fryar also serves as the Blood Program Consultant to The Surgeon General and sits on the Standards Committee, Blood Banks and Transfusion Services, for the AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks) as the Department of Defense representative.
COL Fryar's main tasks will include guiding the program into the future, maintaining its high quality standards, and tackling new challenges such as the deployment of a new Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) database and regional testing contracts for the blood donor centers.
With tasks so important to the successful operation of the Army Blood Program, COL Fryar is excited and ready for the challenges that lie ahead of him. "So many people's lives have been saved with the products manufactured within our system. What drives me, is the thought that we are helping patients, those who were wounded in combat, who have fallen ill, or have medical conditions that are treatable through blood transfusions. "
Welcome to the team, COL Fryar!
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New Construction
Fort Bragg to Construct New Blood Donor Center by 2010
The blood donor center at Fort Bragg, NC, is getting a new home. It will be housed within a 12,000-square-foot facility which will include a processing and testing laboratory, storage area, and shipping center. The new building is scheduled to be opened for operation in June 2010.
Although the grand opening date is one year away, donors, nurses, and officials were able to tour the building grounds, where the foundation has already been poured. This is an exciting time at Fort Bragg, as the ASBP blood donor center there is the second largest blood collection facility within the military blood program. This expansion will undoubtedly help in the collection and processing of blood supplies.
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Public Service Announcements
 SGT Bartlett, along with Naval Architect and Marine Surveyor Dewey Hart Jr. and SSG Shar, share their personal stories about their need for blood. Wounded in combat, SGT Bartlett has no doubt about the importance of blood donations and the donors who volunteer. Similarly, senior enlisted leaders from all services took the time to put together public service announcements for the ASBP to encourage the entire military family to give blood. You can find these videos and others in our ASBP Web site Videos section. A heartfelt thank you goes out to those who participated in relaying our life-saving message: Jeffrey Smith, Master Chief Petty Officer, Coast Guard Reserve Forces, David Hudson, Command Sergeant Major Senior Enlisted Leader, NGB, Ronney Wright, Force Master Chief, Navy Reserve Force, John Gipe, Command Sergeant Major, Army National Guard, Kenneth Preston, Sergeant Major of the Army, United States Army, Charles Bowen, Master Chief Petty Officer, United States Coast Guard, Carlton Kent, Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, United States Marine Corps and Kim Davis, Sergeant Major, Marine Forces Reserve. |
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New Web Site Feature
 Jim and Linda Parker have been the talk of the ASBP community since they first visited Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii. Wrapping up a project which led them to donate in all 50 states, there they learned about the military's blood program. This discovery launched their next project-to donate blood for the military at all 20 ASBP blood donor centers within the United States.
They kicked off their new donation trek at The Pentagon, and followed up by traveling cross country to Fort Bliss, TX, Fort Sam Houston, TX, Lackland Air Force Base, TX, Fort Gordon, GA, Fort Lewis, WA, San Diego, CA, and Wright-Patterson, OH.
Now back to their jobs as school teachers, they are preparing for their next set of donation trips, which will begin in December, during winter break. We chronicled their journey with us by giving Jim and Linda their very own home on the ASBP Web site. There you can follow the Parkers throughout their ASBP blood donation journey, with stories, pictures and videos.
Want to thank Jim and Linda for their support or just say hello? Stop by the ASBP on Facebook.com/militaryblood and leave a note! |
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Blood Donor Center Profile
Naval Medical Center San Diego, CA
Blood Donor RecruiterDoreen Rekoski, (619) 532-6653  DID YOU KNOW? The Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) has acquired a new team member- a brand "new" bloodmobile! The bloodmobile, while not quite new, once belonged to the Portsmouth Blood Donor Center at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. The Portsmouth Blood Donor Center purchased a new bloodmobile and began "shopping" their old bloodmobile around to other Naval facilities. The San Diego Blood Donor Center was happy to begin the "adoption" proceedings. Although the San Diego blood donor center already has one bloodmobile, "The second bloodmobile will be a great resource for us. Since most of our Navy locations have limited inside space available for blood drives, we rely heavily on our present bloodmobile to accomplish our mission. It will be great to use the second bloodmobile when we have big drives and when there is no inside set-up available, such as when we hold blood drives for Navy ships pierside. We also plan to put it to good use at Camp Pendleton," explains Doreen Rekoski. Since the bloodmobile's original home was in Portsmouth, VA, NMCSD's transportation driver, Tom Holman, was tasked with the cross-country bloodmobile delivery. The ASBP made its presence known on the highways and byways of America as Holman drove coast to coast. This was great advertising for ASBP in hard to reach places! Fast forward one week, the NMCSD can finally welcome their newest team member which arrived in San Diego on Monday, Aug. 31. | |
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