Published November 2005

Puget Sound Blood Center
touches lives with research,
donation programs

By Linda Thomas
Special to SCBJ

Blood banks are like public utilities.

“You expect the water to be on all the time, and if you need a blood transfusion, you expect the blood to be there,” said Dr. Mike Strong, executive vice president of operations at Puget Sound Blood Center. “You don’t think about blood until there’s a problem, but most of us at some point will need a transfusion.”

That is Strong’s simple explanation of why the nonprofit blood center, with two donation sites in Snohomish County, is important. He’s more accustomed to providing scientific answers to complex questions.

Photo by Linda Thomas Tanya Sappington (left) watches as Puget Sound Blood Center mobile operations specialist Cheryl Earnest draws blood during a recent stop at Bryman College in Everett. The blood center estimates it will provide blood for more than 500 transfusions per day in 2005.

His resume includes service in the U.S. Navy, where he was in charge of a blood bank and later was involved with the national bone marrow donor program. In addition to launching the first bone marrow program, the Navy also had the first tissue bank in the world, and Strong has experience in that area of research.

Research is what sets the Puget Sound Blood Center apart from other blood banks, according to Strong.

The nonprofit started in 1944 and within a few years had one of the most advanced medical research laboratories in the nation. Today, it’s a world leader in blood and tissue research.

“We’ve also pushed the issue of safety into the forefront,” Strong said. “We’re solving problems of infectious disease transmission through blood transfusions and improving the blood supply for patients in our area and across the country.”

Lake Stevens resident Allison Trimble credits the Puget Sound Blood Center with saving her life. She needed 19 units of blood during heart transplant surgery five years ago.

At the age of 15, Trimble was tired all of the time, sick every day and had difficulty breathing.

“It was very frustrating because I was also skinny and people thought I was anorexic,” said Trimble. “Doctors tested me for asthma and everything else. They thought I was just depressed or maybe didn’t have friends.”

Several months later, Trimble was finally diagnosed with familial dilated cardiomyopathy. The disease attacks the heart muscle. In Trimble’s case, her heart grew so rapidly it began disintegrating.

On March 5, 2000, Trimble wrote in her journal about a “once in a lifetime” experience — the day she got a new heart.

“The transplant surgery went well, and I’m so fortunate to have a healthy heart,” said Trimble, now 21. “But none of it would have been possible without the blood transfusions.”

Trimble has now become an advocate for blood and organ donation. And her husband, Dave, even donates blood several times a year.

“Blood donation is so simple,” she added. “It takes just a little bit out of you and yet you can save so many people. What a gift.”

By its estimate, Puget Sound Blood Centers “touched the lives” of 800,000 people last year through its services, which range from blood donation and screening tests to tissue and bone marrow programs.

Snohomish County donor centers are in Everett, at 2703 Oakes Ave., and in Lynnwood, at 19723 Highway 99.

Linda Thomas is a free-lance writer based in Seattle.

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