Health care
Health care
BY JULIANNA WASHBURN
BY HANNAH NORTON
Medical cannabis program to expand
Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center celebrates 50-year milestone Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, a nonpro t blood center founded in January 1975, celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. Theresa Pina, chief growth ocer for Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, said with the new mile- stone came memories of impactful testimonies from over the years. “I get to hear the stories from moms that talk about how our blood products help their child get through their leukemia treatment,” Pina said. “I get to hear about people that were in major car accidents or traumas that happen and get to see that they’re living a normal life now.” Two-minute impact The Houston-based community blood center serves 170 hospitals and health care facilities in a
26-county area. It is also the only blood provider in Houston and its surrounding communities that serves 24 hours a day and seven days a week, according to the center’s website. One blood donation can help up to three people who need surgeries, cancer treatments or are enduring chronic illnesses or trauma, Pina said. To meet the community’s needs, the center needs about 1,000 donations a day. One more thing Pina said the center is also looking at the next 50 years and how it can expand the center, such as putting a greater focus on the contributions to research and opening a new building across the street from the center’s headquarters to serve as its new donor room. Pina said the new donor building will open this year. “We want to celebrate the 50 years of who we are going to be and how we can serve bigger and how we can save more lives, not only through saving people with transfusions, but also helping provide cures for medical mysteries that exist today,” Pina said.
Another perspective
In 2024, the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center saw:
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made outlawing all other consumable THC products one of his signature priorities this legislative session. He told journalists May 28 that Senate Bill 3, the proposed THC ban, would “save an entire generation [from] being hooked on drugs,” accusing those against the ban of being prot-motivated. Earlier in May, House members said the consumable THC ban proposed by SB 3 would close a “loophole” state lawmakers inadvertently created in 2019, when they legalized hemp sales in an attempt to boost the agricultural industry. After House lawmakers passed SB 3 in mid-May, the Texas Hemp Business Council, which advocates for hemp retailers, launched a petition urging the governor to veto the bill. If SB 3 becomes law, it would “harm veterans, senior citizens, patients and consumers across the state,” according to the petition.
433,506 lives saved
Texas senators voted May 27 to expand eligibility for low-THC medical cannabis prescriptions, putting the state on track to build out an existing program that some Texans have said does not currently help enough people. The bill’s nal details will be determined behind closed doors, House members announced May 30. House Bill 46 would increase the conditions eligible for Texas’ Compassionate Use Program and allow doctors to begin prescribing aerosol and vaporized medical cannabis products, such as inhalers and vaping devices. The bill would allow 12 medical cannabis dispensaries to operate in Texas, up from three under current law. Licensed dispensaries would have the option to create satellite locations to store medication. Medical cannabis providers must currently house all their operations and store products in a single location. This means providers and patients
“The law that we operate under says that we have to provide reasonable access to patients across Texas, and our regulations are not allowing us to do that.” NICO RICHARDSON, CEO, TEXAS ORIGINAL DISPENSARY
139,347 total donors
322,571 total units donated
533 volunteers
SOURCE: GULF COAST REGIONAL BLOOD CENTERCOMMUNITY IMPACT
Local donor center
often drive hours to transport and pick up medication, said Nico Richardson, CEO of the dispensary Texas Original. Additionally, legislation that would ban the possession, sale and manufacture of all other hemp-derived THC products in Texas was sent to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk May 27.
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