Posts tagged as:

donation

Stephanie

National Marrow Donor Program: Be the Match, Save a Life!

Donating blood is something that is very important to everyone here at Incept. Every day we talk to blood donors from across the country, many of whom donate several times a year. However, there are a lot of other great ways to save a life out there too. One of my favorites is the National Marrow Donor Program.

Created in 1991 by Admiral E. R. Zumwalt Jr., the National Marrow Donor Program strives to further research on bone marrow transplants, provides financial aid for patients in need and helps patients find a matching marrow donor. Just as with blood transfusions, bone marrow can only come from marrow donors whose type matches the recipient. In most cases, family members are able to donate the needed marrow, but if the patient doesn’t have a family member who would be a good match, the National Marrow Donor Program is there to find a compatible donor.

Bone Marrow

What exactly is bone marrow, though, and why is it so important? Bone marrow is the spongy stem cell tissue that  produces red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Bone marrow can be found in the sternum, pelvis, skull, ribs and femur bones of your body. The marrow also stores extra iron in the body.

If something is wrong with the bone marrow, it might not be able to produce enough blood cells to keep us healthy. After all, red blood cells are responsible for carrying oxygen throughout the body, and our white blood cells are what helps us fight off diseases and infection.

Why are bone marrow transplants needed in the first place, you ask?

Bone marrow transplants may be needed to replace bone marrow that isn’t working correctly or has been damaged by chemotherapy or radiation. There are also several diseases that attack bone marrow that might make a transplant necessary. Diseases such as aplastic anemia, sickle cell anemia, and certain cancers (such as leukemia and lymphoma) all cause damage to the bone marrow.

Being a bone marrow donor is a great way to help someone in your community who really needs it. It’s easy to get registered as a bone marrow donor – most blood centers can help get you set up and answer any questions you might have.

How many blood donors out there are also marrow donors?

Photo Credits:

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meredith

Incept’s Spotlight on Nonprofits: Habitat for Humanity

If there’s one charity out there that deserves your time, money and admiration, it’s Habitat for Humanity.

I have so many fond memories of volunteering with Habitat! When I was in college, I helped lay down the foundation of a house in Poland (where I got my shoe stuck in cement). As a teenager, I helped put up walls after a tornado devastated a small town near the college I would eventually attend (where I stepped on a nail). As soon as I was old enough to use a hammer without being a threat to myself or others – around age 12 or so – I climbed up ladders and helped install roofs with Habitat (where I hit my thumb more than once).

And during that period between being old enough to help out but too young to be trusted with tools, my mother and I carried cups of water to the workers and set the table for lunch.

That’s what’s so great about Habitat for Humanity. No matter your age or ability, there’s some way you can help. You can build a house for a friend, family member, stranger or for yourself – a brand new house.

On top of meeting certain income guidelines, families who apply to receive a house – referred to as “partner families” – have to invest “sweat-equity hours.” This means they make up for reduced mortgage payments by working for a certain number of hours on Habitat houses. They help pay their mortgage with their sweat! There’s a great sense of community, mutual compassion, loyalty, teamwork and generosity between the volunteers and the families.

Habitat does more than build homes, however. It hosts a Youth Leadership Conference, recycles cars, sells reduced-priced furniture and appliances at the ReStore shops and helps homeowners with exterior home preservation like painting, landscaping and weatherstripping. Habitat helps needy families all over the world, from the United States and Africa to Europe and Asia.

Enter your zip code on Habitat for Humanity’s webpage to find out about local volunteer opportunities!

Have you ever volunteered with Habitat for Humanity?

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meredith

If You Can’t Donate Money for Japan, Donate Blood!

Map of the two earthquakes to hit Japan in less than a month

Like many people watching the news and looking at photos of the second earthquake to hit Japan in less than a month, my first reaction was simple: How can I help?

After a quick glance at my bank account I knew that I didn’t have any money to send. Luckily, I had some hygiene kits in my closet that I had assembled for Church World Service. I promptly packaged them and mailed them off. However, it also occurred to me that the victims in Japan might need blood as well!

The Japanese people are rallying to help out the victims. In Tokyo, 2,284 people donated at the Red Cross back on March 13th. Nationally, there are twice as many people donating blood than normal. Here in the United States, the Red Cross reports that Japan hasn’t issued any requests for foreign blood donations. However, the Red Cross is ready and able to help at any time.

Before and after of the first earthquake from March 11th.

Although the Japanese have enough blood right now to cover their needs, donors can only give blood every so often. If they need foreign blood tomorrow, next week or next month, we have to help! That means donating blood right now!

It takes 24-48 hours for a blood donation to be tested, processed and prepared for transfusion. The blood you donate today might be ready just in time when Japan calls for it!

Red blood cells can be stored for 42 days and plasma can be stored for 12 months. The red cells or plasma you give could go to help the people in Japan within the next year!

So if you’re like me, and you’re not sure what to do to help, you can always donate blood! Even if your donation doesn’t get sent overseas, it could certainly be used to help one of your own friends or family. Every pint of blood helps! Contact your local Red Cross, and schedule a donation today!

What are you doing to help Japan?

Photo Credits:

Friendly Forecast Blog http://blog.friendlyforecast.com/japan-march-2011-earthquake-tsunami-pictures-video/

The Sacramento Bee http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/16/3480412/japan-six-days-after-the-quake.html

ZDNet http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/after-hours/2011/03/14/google-satellite-images-show-japan-earthquake-damage-40092116/

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Stephanie

Incept’s Spotlight on Nonprofits: World Wildlife Fund

At Incept, we believe in helping others, and not just by donating blood. Lately we’ve been

looking at nonprofit groups who go the extra mile to help others. One of my favorite nonprofits is the WWF or World Wildlife Fund.

The WWF is a group of conversationalists who work to protect the lives and habitats of wild animals. For the past 50 years, they have been educating people on the importance of protecting the environment and studying animals in their natural habitat. This year marks their 50th anniversary.

The WWF works all over the world, but there are certain areas with a higher density of endangered wildlife that make them high-priority areas. Some of the main places the WWF focuses on are the Amazon Rainforest in South America, Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico, the Congo Basin in Africa, and the Northern Great Plains here in the United States. These are just a few of the places that need protecting; there are others just as beautiful and exotic spread all over the world.

As you’d expect, covering that much area can be a lot of work. The WWF coordinates with 100 different countries and has about 1.2 million members here in the U.S. alone and about 5 million worldwide.

Like any nonprofit, though, they can’t do it alone. They rely on government funding, as well as the support of others (via fundraising and donations). Last year, it took $224,260,469 to help fund the conservation projects the WWF was working on. These funds helped to make great strides toward protecting the most endangered animals and environments.

I was surprised to see that the WWF even has conservation efforts going on close to home. I’ve lived in northeastern Ohio for most of my life and never had to go much farther than my own backyard to find wildlife.

Hach-Otis Sanctuary in Willoughby Hills, Ohio.

The Southern Great Lakes Forests, which cover 94,400 square miles in Ohio, as well as parts of Michigan, Indiana, southwestern Ontario and western New York, are home to a lot of diverse wildlife. We have red foxes, white-tailed deer, grey and red squirrels, screech owls, green herons and mourning doves, just to name a few. The habitat itself is considered critical or endangered in many places. I was happy to find an article from 2001 mentioning the region and the animals I am familiar with.

Hillsboro, West Virginia

There is also the Appalachian Mixed Mesophytic Forests nearby in southeastern Ohio and Pennsylvania. They extend into most of West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, east-central Tennessee, northwest Alabama and western North Carolina. Like the Southern Great Lakes Forests, this habitat is also considered a critical or endangered region.

You don’t have to be a biologist or ecologist to be a member of the World Wildlife Fund and help out. Simply by making a donation or adopting an animal, you can make a difference. Even something as small as cleaning up litter or making your backyard more suitable for wildlife can play a huge role in helping these creatures thrive.

So the next time you are outside for a walk, take a look around and pay attention to the creatures out there. You’ll be amazed how much wildlife is around us every day that we take for granted. Do your part and help keep their habitats healthy.

Photo Credits:

http://www.layoutsparks.com/1/244955/wwf-panda-bear-animal.html

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Southern_Great_Lakes_forests

http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/photos/na/na0402a.html

http://wwf.worldwildlife.org/site/PageServer?pagename=wallpapersignup

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Stephen Smith

Blood Donor Recruiters: Talk the Talk & Walk the Walk

At Incept, upholding our values means sometimes we have to put ourselves on the front lines of the blood shortage battle. Our CMEs worked all day Wednesday, June 23rd, recruiting blood donors, then took time out of their own schedules to save even more lives by donating at our company-sponsored blood drive.

In short, our blood donor recruiters can certainly talk the talk, and they aren’t afraid to walk the walk either!



 “Never seperate the life you live from the words you speak.” – Paul Wellstone

Vice President of Contact Center Results, Dave Walter donates his first Double Red Cell Donation at the Incept Blood Drive.

Vice President of Contact Center Results, Dave Walter donates his first Double Red Cell Donation at the Incept Blood Drive.

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Stephen Smith

What Motivates A Blood Donor?

Units of BloodAll the time, I talk to people who have donated blood once a quarter for years. I’m talking about people who have given blood measurable in gallons upon gallons. I’ve always wondered what motivates these great people to come in and donate blood to save the lives of people they’ll never meet. The most common answer I hear in my conversations is, “I like to help other people.”

Is it really that simple? Is the magic solution to getting more people to donate just to say, “Donate because it helps others!” and let the words speak for themselves? Sadly, it’s not. Some people will still be more interested in getting a free t-shirt or a certificate for a pint of ice cream (or whatever the promotional item might be at any given time). The truth is that the people on the front lines of saving lives in their communities are the ones who say they give blood because it’s important to them to help others. I can’t think of anything else to call those donors but heroes, because that selflessness is hard to come by these days.

So what really motivates a blood donor to give their time and blood to their local blood center? For some, it might be a t-shirt or a coffee mug, or maybe some sort of grand prize (where in order to win they have to donate blood). Other donors want simply to be thanked for donating, and to know they’re appreciated. Those are the ones who take it personally. They apologize to our CMEs when they miss an appointment, and then they thank us for calling to get them scheduled for a donation. They even get upset when they’re sick and can’t donate – as if it’s their fault that they caught the flu.

What motivates those people are compassion and selflessness. Pure and simple, it’s the most powerful type of motivation I’ve ever seen.

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tjohnson

Don’t Call Us Telemarketers

INCEPT missionI love when people ask me what we do at Incept. As soon as I begin to tell them that we make phone calls, even before I can finish, they say, “Oh, it’s a telemarketing job? I hate those.” It’s at that point that I smile – preparing to have the last laugh – and inform them that, it’s not telemarketing. We schedule blood donations. We get people to donate blood and save lives. It’s amazing how 90% of the time their next response is, “Really? What’s that place called again?”

We don’t sell you anything. I’m not working on commission. There is no fine print to what I’m explaining. We save lives.

Some of us here have saved tens of thousands of lives, one conversation at a time. To say our jobs are rewarding would be an understatement. The first time it really hit me just how much the work we do really reaches the entire country, was when the great people at Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center actually sent over a video showing to all of our conversational marketing experts (CMEs).

http://www.vimeo.com/12145037

I apologize if my tone came across as bold at first, I just love speaking with confidence to the public. There is really something special going on at Incept. Along with continuous progression that is expanding our efforts worldwide, Incept has provided us with the opportunity to improve our own lives by improving the lives of others. The best part about working within this organization, besides the continuous appreciation they show to all of us, is that we are always looking to extend our family to include anyone who has been impacted or would like to make an impact on those in desperate need of help.

So, please, don’t call us telemarketers.

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tjohnson

Blood Donor Recruitment | Born Permanently Deferred

sickle_cell_01

It still amazes me that until 1996, it was not routine to check newborn children for Sickle Cell disease. That was nine years after I was born. All it took was a seizure at two years old – during a trip to Maryland with my mother, father, and brother - for the doctors to take a deeper look and establish what could possibly be wrong.

As a child, I became informed about this hereditary blood disease from the excellent hematology department at Akron Children’s Hospital. I was lucky to only have the S-C Disease version of this blood disorder, which is second to worst. A full-blown Sickle Cell disease-inflicted child would likely need to undergo continuous blood transfusions, treatments and even bone marrow transfusions. Thankfully, that was a situation I was truly fortunate to avoid.

As I continued my routine check-ups at Akron Children’s Hospital and I learned to cope with my illness better, I started to realize things that I would have to deal with for the rest of my life. I would never be able to run for long extended periods; I would have to ensure that I was never dehydrated; I would have to put up with frequent trips to the restroom; I would not be able to participate in certain areas of military service; and I would never be able to keep my immune system as strong as a “normal” kid my age. It didn’t even hit me that I wouldn’t be able to donate blood, but, at the time, I was too young to donate anyway.

It wasn’t until I started my career here at Incept in 2007, as a blood donor recruiter and conversational marketing expert(CME), that I realized the true importance of blood donations. In certain conversations, I was able to express the importance of donations by particular donors because of their ability to help Sickle Cell patients, who require matched blood. I realized at that point how being a blood donor recruiter would be my way of helping to schedule the blood that I am unable to donate myself. I am, at the very least, able to hold my head high when people ask why I don’t donate blood myself. Though, I would much rather be able to do my full part and donate blood.

Not only have I obtained the knowledge regarding the process and importance of blood donations, but I have also been able to spread word of the critical need, new advancements, and upcoming drives for blood centers around the country, thanks to our social media department. This is another way that I feel I can do my part to help patients in hospitals and experience the true fulfillment that many of CMEs share.

It’s a weird feeling knowing that I was born permanently deferred from donating blood. However, that bit of self-awareness is also what drives me to inform, support and persuade those who can donate on the importance of doing their part. That’s how I save lives.

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