Bit of cereal

from Lifestyles After 50 Suncoast Edition, January 2022

German article

New OneBlood Facility in Hernando County

Information and image from The Suncoast News

Chris Peacock settled into one of the beds at OneBlood and watched as a technician prepared to have him donate some of his blood at the new facility at the recently opened facility. OneBlood still has the familiar red buses that go around and set up in parking lots. “There’s a big demand for blood,” said Pat Michaels, the company’s director of media and public relations, “and donors have a choice to give whole blood, red blood cells or platelets.” According to Suncoast News, the new location at 13463 County Line Road in Spring Hill opened recently, Michaels said, and the storefront will be expanding into a unit next door. That location will be used for equipment and offices, he said, and to store materials for the buses. Inside the donation room, it’s a clean and pleasant environment. Peacock, 25, says his girlfriend works for OneBlood and he’s a stay-at-home dad of one child. “I enjoy giving back,” he said. “When my girlfriend gave birth, she received a transfusion; obviously I’m well aware of what people need.” If you’re giving, you’re spending some time there, he said, and he was busy with a TV remote looking for the next episode of “House of Cards,” which he’s watching for the second time. The six beds look comfortable, and each has a large TV monitor suspended overhead but in view so you can watch your favorite show while sharing the gift of life. When they’re ready to take your blood, they drape you with a nice blanket to keep you warm, and there are snacks afterward. OneBlood has multiple centers in five states, Michaels said. “We opened the new center in Spring Hill because we’ve had such a good response from people on the bus,” he said. On the bus, though, they can’t take platelets. In addition, the donor centers can handle more donors than the buses. The Spring Hill center had a soft opening in August and a grand opening in early November. They serve about 250 hospitals throughout the Southeast, and in Florida at Bayfront Hospital and others in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Orlando. COVID has also increased the demand for blood, Michaels said. “The challenge was maintaining the donations,” he said, and dealing with the challenging process of bringing people aboard and getting their donations while sticking to COVID protocols. “It’s a challenging time,” he said. “We had to make do.”