Pflugerville - Hutto | June 2025

Health care

BY AMANDA CUTSHALL

BY BEN THOMPSON

We Are Blood continues to urge blood donations, following a “critical shortage” reported earlier this year. The blood bank provides donations to every hospital within the area it serves, including Williamson, Travis and Hays counties. Representatives say one donation could save up to three lives and takes less than one hour. “We are calling on generous [Type O] donors to help us rebuild and meet the needs of local patients at area hospitals,” Nick Canedo, vice president of community engagement at WAB, said in an April release. As of late 2023, members of the LGBTQ+ community can donate; the gender of a donor and their sexual partners is no longer a consideration for donor eligibility. Residents urged to donate blood

Cellular therapy found at St. David’s

How it works

The takeaway

On arrival, potential donors will sign in at the front desk and be asked to read information about the process. After that, they will complete a survey regarding medical and travel history. The donor will receive a mini-physical, including checking temperature, blood pressure, pulse and red blood cell percentage. A phlebotomist will then lead them into the donation room. Those interested can schedule an appointment online for any of the four Austin-area locations or mobile drives held across all the counties it serves. Ocials said donors should drink plenty of water the night before and bring photo identication. Anyone with questions can call 512-206-1108 or email whocandonate@weareblood.org.

St. David’s oerings have expanded since launching in 2014 with only one treatment type. While it’s not an academic center, Ramakrishnan said physicians still do a lot of research and work with professionals across the national therapy network. The program has now served more than 1,000 people. “When I got here in 2014, they told me we were going to do about six procedures for the rst year. I think we did 27. People have just been ocking here,” he said. “We’re grateful that, again, we’re able to provide these services to the community, and we get a lot of positive feedback from the community regarding that.”

For over a decade, St. David’s South Austin Medical Center has oered the city’s only selection of cellular therapies for various blood cancers. Through the Sarah Cannon Transplant & Cellular Therapy Network, hundreds of patients have had local access to three dierent types of transplant treatments. “Imagine having to drive to another city where the service is available. That’s a big burden,” Program Director Dr. Aravind Ramakrishnan said. “They have these diseases, they’re horrible, they have to drive to their appointment, they have to spend all this time, they often need a caregiver. It really upends their life. To keep them home in their bed around their support network, I think it’s huge for the patients.”

Treatment types

St. David’s South Austin provides three specic cellular cancer treatments. Autologous transplant Patients’ own stems cells are harvested while they’re treated with high-dose chemotherapy before cells are reintroduced to patients. This treats cancers like multiple myeloma and Hodgkins lymphoma. Allogeneic transplant Patients are evaluated for a transplant over several months, and a cell donor is selected and then treated with chemo or radiation before cells are transfused. This treats cancers like leukemia. CAR T-cell therapy Immune cells from the patient or a donor are extracted and genetically modied. Patients receive treatment like chemo before the cells are infused to target cancers. This treats cancers like lymphoma.

Austin-area residents can make a life-saving impact by donating O-type blood amid a current shortage.

COMMUNITY IMPACT STAFF

Donors must be in good health be at least 17 years old weigh at least 115 pounds for whole blood donations or 110 pounds for platelet donations

SOURCE: ST. DAVID’S HEALTHCARECOMMUNITY IMPACT

SOURCE: WE ARE BLOODCOMMUNITY IMPACT

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