FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Partners in Saving Lives

South King County Area Donors and Volunteers Honored by Puget Sound Blood Center

DECEMBER 5, 2005, SEATTLE WA — It takes many people to save lives. Behind each pint of blood stand the many people it takes to produce it, test it and prepare it. Puget Sound Blood Center is fortunate to have a dedicated group of people – blood donors, blood drive coordinators, entire high schools and more – willing to take time and energy to make the gift of life available to countless people in our community who need blood transfusions. In recognition of the selfless contributions of time, organizational skills and the other talents of local residents, the Blood Center will host an awards luncheon in their honor in Federal Way on Thursday, December 8, 2005.

The event, Partners in Life, celebrates the numerous ways that donors and volunteers support patients in our community. From the donor giving blood, to the volunteers organizing blood drives and recruiting new donors, benefits of their efforts are felt by patients throughout Western Washington.
The award ceremony and luncheon will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Twin Lakes Golf & Country Club, 3583 SW 320th Street, Federal Way, WA 98023.

Those receiving awards include State Farm’s Operation Center in Dupont, WA, which holds three blood drives each year and has been participating in drives for over a decade; Auburn’s Brian Hoffman, a UPS Warehouse Manger, has increased the number of blood drives from two to six blood drives each year; Maple Valley’s Gladys Beem who, as a volunteer, fills at least five shifts each month, coordinating them with other volunteer activities she performs; Kent’s John Filicetti who has donated over 200 times and whose son has hemophilia and Auburn High School, the high school registering the most donors in a single year with 889 volunteer donations in 2004.

Speakers will include Andrea Tyrone of Shelton who benefited from the gifts of donors and volunteers when she received several blood transfusions following a head-on accident while riding her motorcycle in November of 2004. Tyrone will tell her story illustrated with pictures showing her mangled motorcycle and the recovery she’s been undergoing in the year since her near fatal accident.

Celebrating over 60 years of innovation, the Blood Center has a long and unique tradition of blending community volunteerism, medical science and research to improve patients’ lives. The Blood Center, which serves patients in more than 70 hospitals and clinics in 14 counties with blood services, provides tissue and transplantation support to 185 hospitals across the Northwest. For more information on Puget Sound Blood Center please see our Web site at www.psbc.org.

If you have any questions regarding the event contact Tom Butterworth at 206-292-6511 or pager 206-680-2610.

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