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Hagins Visits Blood Centers in China

Posted on: Monday, October 24, 2011

Category: Announcements

When John Hagins—past president of the Association of Donor Recruitment Professionals (ADRP) and current CEO of the American Red Cross Greater Alleghenies Blood Services Region in Johnstown, PA—accompanied CaridianBCT to China with a Donor Recruitment road show, he had no idea it would be such a whirlwind adventure. Hagins visited six blood centers in multiple provinces around China in just 12 days to present donor recruitment best practices from the American Red Cross, and to answer questions from center directors and their staffs. “The Q&A sessions were an informative part of the presentation,” Hagins said, “because questions at each blood center were different.”

Universal problem…different obstacles

The blood centers John visited “were pristine,” he said, with great infrastructure in terms of collections, testing and staff, but all the centers struggled with donor recruitment. “The donor recruitment problem is universal,” Hagins said. “Everyone faces obstacles getting people to donate blood, but some of the obstacles in China are different from those we face in the U.S.”  According to Hagins, a concern for personal safety affects Chinese efforts to recruit donors.

Best practices…East and West

The center directors were very interested in U.S. best practices for donor recruitment; Chinese blood centers are experiencing an increased demand for blood that they are already working hard to meet. Currently, the centers launch donor recruitment efforts when there is an immediate need, often using radio and television advertising. “Some centers in larger towns are successful with mobile donor recruiting,” Hagins explained. “When a blood center sets up a mobile unit, they do well. It’s a simple matter of asking people to donate—exactly what we find in the U.S.” (See article on Al Whitney in a previous ADRP post.)

Successful venture…successful connections

Hagins estimates that he addressed about 100 people at each center (and up to 1,200 more people in each of two provinces where the sessions were video broadcast). “I consider the road show a great success for the American Red Cross as well as for everyone else involved. We had more engagement and we developed more connections than we are able to when only one or two people from China can come to the U.S. to research best practices,” Hagins said.

Hua Peng, Director of Changsha Blood Center, also saw the value of the road show, saying, “Through this road show, we got to know new methods about donor recruitment, especially collaborations with universities. After this talk, we are going to implement some of these new donor recruitment methods into our daily work.”

“I’m honored that I was able to participate in this first-ever donor recruitment road show,” Hagins added. “It was an exciting experience, and we received such positive feedback. We engaged in dialogues where we all learned something about each other. Probably the best part of the experience was sharing  American Red Cross perspectives on the business of blood banking.”

When asked about the most rewarding part of the road show, Hagins replied without hesitation: “Sharing stories and ideas, creating connections and building partnerships.”