Coast Guard Delivers Blood to Carnival Miracle

[Luckysll]

http://khon2.com/2014/09/23/coast-guard-delivers-blood-to-cruise-ship-northeast-of-oahu/

 

I wonder why they didn't air lift the man. Perhaps his condition was too serious to risk the flight. Must be a scary situation for whoever is travelling with him.

[JLee1973]

If there is no aircraft carrier in the area for fuel they are probably to far out for a helo rescue by the Coast Guard.

 

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[windsor26]

It must have been a rare kind as we have been on 3 ships that have called for blood donors of specific types to use in an emergency Hope everything turned out well for the patient

[chengkp75]

http://khon2.com/2014/09/23/coast-guard-delivers-blood-to-cruise-ship-northeast-of-oahu/

 

I wonder why they didn't air lift the man. Perhaps his condition was too serious to risk the flight. Must be a scary situation for whoever is travelling with him.

 

The max range of the USCG SAR helicopters is only 300 nm, with very little loiter time at that range, so the Hercules airplane was the only option. The ship would have needed about another 5 hours to get within range of the helicopter, and I guess they couldn't wait.

 

The air drop would have been to the sea, and the ship would have had to stop and lower the rescue boat to retrieve the blood.

Edited September 24, 2014 by chengkp75

[pe4all]

10 units is a lot of blood. Hope the passenger is doing better, and makes it safely to Oahu.

[JinxyB]

Yikes, that is scary! The patient may have antibodies in his blood which would require specific cross-matching....otherwise I would imagine they would call for anyone with O- blood on the ship to donate if the situation was dire and the man couldn't be airlifted? What kind of lab facilities do they have on the ship?

[daisy001]

The gentlemen was air lifted the same night and went to Oahu hospital. His wife stayed on the boat and reached him back when we arrived in Oahu. He had internal bleeding and as far as the report said, he was recovering and in stable condition as of October 3rd, 2014.

Edited October 8, 2014 by daisy001

[wrigley80]

Wow!!! This story really hits home for me. My dad was just discharged from the hospital yesterday due to a bleeding ulcer in his stomach that led to a heart attack. My dad received 7 pints of blood over the weekend. He was hospitalized for 5 days.

Thank God for the brave men and women who risk their lives to save the lives of others.

[LUV CRUSIN]

Wow!!! This story really hits home for me. My dad was just discharged from the hospital yesterday due to a bleeding ulcer in his stomach that led to a heart attack. My dad received 7 pints of blood over the weekend. He was hospitalized for 5 days.

Thank God for the brave men and women who risk their lives to save the lives of others.

 

Hi Wrigley80

 

You don't know me because I am just one of many who have read your reviews, however I feel like I know you after reading them (and viewing all the beautiful pictures of you and your Mom & Dad). I am so sorry this happened to your dad. I truly hope he is recovering well and will be able to go on your next cruise. I believe you mentioned you are booked on the Dream in December. What date in Dec.? We are booked on the Dream for the Dec. 14th cruise. If you are on that cruise would be nice to meet you in person.

 

Again best wishes and prayers for your dad. :)

 

Sarah

[KatieBug28]

Yikes, that is scary! The patient may have antibodies in his blood which would require specific cross-matching....otherwise I would imagine they would call for anyone with O- blood on the ship to donate if the situation was dire and the man couldn't be airlifted? What kind of lab facilities do they have on the ship?

 

This only happens in the movies or on TV. In reality, collecting and processing the blood is highly regulated and time consuming. First, the donor has to be screened both for their safety (to assure donation doesn't cause a medical event for them) and to assure that the donor does not have any medical conditions that could be passed along to the recipient. Everyone thinks of HIV, but they are also screening for things like malaria, Dengue, flu, various types of hepatitis, etc.

 

Once the donor passes the screening, the blood then has to be collected in a sterile environment and immediately mixed with anti-coagulant. Otherwise it will just form a bunch of clots and be useless — and even harmful — to the patient. After it is collected, the blood is separated out into its different components (red blood cells, plasma and platelets), and each type is stored at a different temperature. Meanwhile, samples of the blood are sent off for various infectious disease testing, which usually takes a couple of days. Only after this is received (it must be done by a different facility according to FDA regulations) can the blood be labeled with the blood type and ready for transfusion.

 

Sorry, I worked in a blood bank for 7 years, so I tend to get on my soap box about these things.:o What I'm trying to say is that they can't just holler "Is anyone O neg?" and take their word for it, and then hook them up directly to the other person. To do so would be risking not only the health of the patient, but also the person donating. And it's incredibly risky. The patient could have a reaction to the transfusion (which is still a danger even after all that testing), or they could be transfused with an illness that will impact them for the rest of their life!

[wrigley80]

Hi Wrigley80

 

 

 

You don't know me because I am just one of many who have read your reviews, however I feel like I know you after reading them (and viewing all the beautiful pictures of you and your Mom & Dad). I am so sorry this happened to your dad. I truly hope he is recovering well and will be able to go on your next cruise. I believe you mentioned you are booked on the Dream in December. What date in Dec.? We are booked on the Dream for the Dec. 14th cruise. If you are on that cruise would be nice to meet you in person.

 

 

 

Again best wishes and prayers for your dad. :)

 

 

 

Sarah

 

 

Awwww thank you so much. It was pretty scary on Friday but my dad is tough. He is feeling better now. 6 units of blood is a lot (half the supply in the body).

We are on the Dream on December 7th. [emoji2] We are so ready to be back onboard again. Some friends of ours are getting married onboard on embarkation day so that's exciting.

Enjoy your cruise. I'll wave to ya as we are disembarking and you are embarking [emoji6]

[JinxyB]

This only happens in the movies or on TV

I have actually witnessed this in a field environment where a soldier was crushed between 2 vehicles and was given blood directly from other military members (blood type was known)-he would have died without it waiting for transport.

[pghsteelerfan]

Wow!!! This story really hits home for me. My dad was just discharged from the hospital yesterday due to a bleeding ulcer in his stomach that led to a heart attack. My dad received 7 pints of blood over the weekend. He was hospitalized for 5 days.

Thank God for the brave men and women who risk their lives to save the lives of others.

 

OMG, Brianna...I had no idea. I am so sorry to hear all of this happened to your dad. I am very relieved that he's ok now but will keep you all in my prayers.

 

Not trying to hi-jack this thread but I have read and enjoyed all of Wrigley80's reviews.

[wrigley80]

OMG, Brianna...I had no idea. I am so sorry to hear all of this happened to your dad. I am very relieved that he's ok now but will keep you all in my prayers.

 

Not trying to hi-jack this thread but I have read and enjoyed all of Wrigley80's reviews.

 

 

Thank you Holly. Yeah he is feeling much better....I guess you would feel better if you receive 6 pints of blood. The power of prayer definitely worked for my dad. [emoji2]

 

Also thank you for the kind words about my reviews

[N2Mischief]

This only happens in the movies or on TV. In reality, collecting and processing the blood is highly regulated and time consuming. First, the donor has to be screened both for their safety (to assure donation doesn't cause a medical event for them) and to assure that the donor does not have any medical conditions that could be passed along to the recipient. Everyone thinks of HIV, but they are also screening for things like malaria, Dengue, flu, various types of hepatitis, etc.

 

Once the donor passes the screening, the blood then has to be collected in a sterile environment and immediately mixed with anti-coagulant. Otherwise it will just form a bunch of clots and be useless — and even harmful — to the patient. After it is collected, the blood is separated out into its different components (red blood cells, plasma and platelets), and each type is stored at a different temperature. Meanwhile, samples of the blood are sent off for various infectious disease testing, which usually takes a couple of days. Only after this is received (it must be done by a different facility according to FDA regulations) can the blood be labeled with the blood type and ready for transfusion.

 

Sorry, I worked in a blood bank for 7 years, so I tend to get on my soap box about these things.:o What I'm trying to say is that they can't just holler "Is anyone O neg?" and take their word for it, and then hook them up directly to the other person. To do so would be risking not only the health of the patient, but also the person donating. And it's incredibly risky. The patient could have a reaction to the transfusion (which is still a danger even after all that testing), or they could be transfused with an illness that will impact them for the rest of their life!

 

When we were on Liberty last year they called for type O donations. Requirements were just that we were healthy and had had no alcohol in the past 24 hours which you would think would be hard to find on a ship. We rushed down to help as both my husband and I are O+, we stepped of the elevator and there were about 70 people lined up to donate! So it doesn't just happen in the movies! lol