ADRP International

ADRP, an international division of ABC,  has over 20 countries represented within its subscriber base. It is committed to  providing education and networking opportunities to blood banking professionals. ADRP draws upon the vast knowledge and experience of its global subscribers to champion and forge excellence within the blood donation industry.

The ADRP International Committee was established to promote activities, services and outreach to donor recruitment professionals beyond the ADRP’s traditional membership base in North America.  It is charged with building organizational and industry awareness of worldwide recruitment issues and challenges. The committee's outgoing initiatives include:

• Work with Membership Committee to help recruit international members.
• Facilitate globally based liaisons and special representatives to the ADRP Board.
• Correspondence and interaction with blood and tissue recruitment/collection agencies and entities around the globe.
• Coordination of events such as AABB Conference to reach out and recruit international members.

• Assistance with organization of ADRP conferences or sponsored events in locations beyond North America.
• Develop beneficial partnership that enhance the organizational brand identity and collaboration.
• Development of globally relevant initiatives, services, collaborations, etc. independently or in conjunction with other ADRP Committees.
• Oversight of ADRP activities for World Blood Donor Day.

• Coordination of global attendee event at the ADRP Annual Conference. 
• Performance or arrangement of hospitality functions for global attendees at the ADRP Annual Meeting.
• Solicitation of geographically broad-based attendance at and educational content within the ADRP Annual Conference.
• Assistance to the President and other Committees with matters connected to third party sponsorship of international attendees at the ADRP Annual Conference

Marie Forrestal, ADRP President-Elect, represented ADRP at the China Society of Blood Transfusion’s conference in Xiamen, China in November.   The trip was sponsored by Terumo BCT China and coordinated by Marketing Manager, Mindy Xu.  Conference attendees came from blood centers in all of the Chinese provinces.  Blood banking in China has made great strides, but there is still work to be done and challenges to overcome.  In the most populous country in the world, the demand for blood outpaces donations.  The aging population and the recently lifted cap of one child per family are a main source of the disparity between the need for blood and available donors.  Each province faces unique cultural and logistical challenges for blood centers as well.   Areas with a large concentration of universities have much higher donation rates than rural areas. Corporate and business communities are not utilized to their potential due to the low penetration rate in these area.   Terumo has been committed to helping with this progress, part of which is to teach donor recruitment skills and retention methodology.

Ms. Xu said “as a global leader in blood component, therapeutic apheresis and cellular technologies, Terumo BCT believes in the potential of blood to do even more for patients than it does today. This belief inspires our innovation and strengthens our collaboration with customers. In China, we are a trustworthy partner who is working with CSBT (China Society of Blood Transfusion) closely to strive to make even safer, high-quality transfusions available to more patients. We will continue to support the biennial CSBT conference and look forward to more communication and collaboration with all kinds of organization like ADRP. We are strongly convinced that ADRP’s experience will benefit donors and blood centers globally.”

Ms. Forrestal’s presentation, “Donor Recruitment and Retention - A United States and New York Perspective,” was attended by about 300 CSBT members and sponsors.  It included top-down leadership in the corporate sector to increase and institutionalize donations and marketing techniques using personal stories of blood recipients via their social media channel.  Several physicians in attendance were very interested in United States legislation and data on decreasing the donation age from 18 to 17, which would vastly improve availability of blood. 

The trip was an incredible experience according to Marie. “The team from Terumo was extremely gracious and the experience of sharing both common and uncommon challenges in blood banking was a humbling experience.   The mix of new and old in China is so striking and the commitment and interest in leveraging modern blood donor recruitment techniques was inspiring.  Many of the things that we take for granted in the United States are still being worked through and with the commitment and leadership for CBST great progress in on the horizon”.

This is the fifth trip to China by an ADRP representative to share donor recruitment and collections techniques with our international colleagues. 

ADRP will once again host the International Summit during pre-conference activities in Chicago, Illinois. The summit was a great success during the 2016 ADRP conference with more than 25 attendees from around the globe. Participants have the opportunity to introduce their blood-collecting organization and obstacles faced in their country to meeting patient needs. Smaller groups will then tackle these challenges in round table discussions before providing feedback to the larger group. The International Summit brings unique perspectives and experience from many different countries and allows attendees a valuable networking opportunity.

Those who register for the International Summit will be sent a brief survey prior to the annual conference to plan the workshop content. This pre-conference activity is available to all international ADRP conference attendees who want to learn more about blood collection around the world (registration required). The International Summit will take place on Monday, May 1, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Chicago Hilton.