Banner Boswell encourages community to donate blood during holidays
SUN CITY, Ariz. (Oct. 31, 2011) – This holiday season, one employee at Banner Boswell Medical Center in Sun City, is asking people not to buy gifts for their loved ones.
Instead, Tammy Miner-Agee, a Peoria resident and health unit coordinator at the nonprofit hospital, is urging people to donate blood.
It was the greatest gift her family received eight years ago, when her then 10-year-old daughter Kellie Miner was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. Kellie needed 131 blood transfusions throughout her two-year battle with leukemia, but early on in her fight, she nearly died because the blood banks were critically low during the 2004 holiday season.
“People don’t know that blood transfusions support patients through cancer treatment until their bodies are able to make their own blood cells again. I made a call to one of my co-workers from Kellie’s hospital bedside on Christmas Eve to ask everyone to please donate blood. At that time, the cancer wasn’t killing her; it was not having enough blood. We had to wait 33 hours for blood to be flown in from Utah since there wasn’t a local match,” said Miner-Agee. “My colleagues were our holiday heroes. They flooded the blood banks and there were lines and waiting lists to donate blood for Kellie. Their gifts of blood helped Kellie survive.”
Now a senior at Sunrise Mountain High School, 17-year-old Kellie is healthy and finally getting back to being a typical teenager. She works part-time at a local clothing store and is hoping to study business management after graduation.
Banner Boswell is hosting a blood drive on Monday, Nov. 21 in Kellie’s honor to help supply the Valley with much-needed blood during the holiday season. Banner Boswell joins several Banner Health hospitals hosting blood drives in the West Valley through the holiday season.
- Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center – Phoenix
Thursday, Nov. 10 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Call (602) 839-4380.
- Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center – Sun City West
Friday, Nov. 11 from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. & Friday, Dec. 30 from 7 a.m. to noon
Call (623) 524-4058 or visit www.bloodhero.com and enter sponsor code: DelEWebb.
- Banner Boswell Medical Center – Sun City
Monday, Nov. 21 from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. & Thursday, Dec. 29 from 7 a.m. to noon
Call (623) 832-5333 or visit www.bloodhero.com and enter sponsor code: Boswell.
- Banner Estrella Medical Center – Phoenix
Tuesday, Dec. 27 from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Call (623) 327-5278 or visit www.bloodhero.com and enter sponsor code: EstrellaMC.
- Banner Thunderbird Medical Center – Glendale
Tuesday, Dec. 27 from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Call (602) 865-5852 or visit www.bloodhero.com and enter sponsor code: BannerTB.
All donors in November will be automatically entered into a raffle to win one of 10 certificates for one year of free oil changes, courtesy of Advanced Auto Service and Tire Centers. Additionally, anyone who donates to a UBS Valley blood drive from Nov. 16 through Nov. 30 will receive a voucher for one ticket to a Phoenix Symphony performance.
About Banner Boswell Medical Center
Banner Boswell Medical Center, located at 10401 W. Thunderbird Blvd. in Sun City, is a 501-bed campus specializing in neurosciences, heart care, cancer care, stroke care, orthopedics, acute rehabilitation, skilled nursing and emergency care. Supporting Banner Boswell’s mission of excellent patient care is the Sun Health Foundation, which encourages charitable giving to support the hospital. Banner Boswell is part of nonprofit Banner Health. For more information, visit www.BannerHealth.com/Boswell.
