N.C. Department of Correction--Correction News--April 1998

Program Assistant Donates 160th Pint of Blood

Donating blood is a habit for Frank Horne. Every time he visits the Durham blood center, Horne wears a cap that’s now decorated with 40 small pins. Each droplet-shaped pin is marked with a red cross and represents a one gallon blood donation. The latest pin marks Horne’s donation of his 160th pint of blood.

"I started when I was 17 in the Marine Corps. The Red Cross sent out a bulletin that they needed blood because of an accident," said Horne, a programs assistant II at Orange Correctional Center. "I just started giving and never stopped."

Horne spent most of his 30 years in the Marines stationed in Jacksonville, NC, before coming to work for the Department of Correction ten years ago. He started his career as a correctional officer at Central Prison, then moved to Durham Correctional Center to work in programs before transferring to the Hillsborough unit.

Horne visits the Red Cross office weekly to undergo pheresis, a procedure that allows donation of the blood’s platelets. Since November 1990, Horne has undergone pheresis 108 times. Platelets cause blood to clot and are essential for patients being treated for cancer or blood disorders like aplastic anemia.

"There are about a half dozen donors that have given that much," said Alice Young, the RN in charge of the Durham center’s pheresis unit.

Horne said pheresis takes about an hour. He laid in a comfortable chair and watched a movie, as a nurse closely watched him and his pheresis machine. Young said they are always looking for volunteers at the five Red Cross blood centers in North Carolina.

Horne is just one of many correction employees who have donated blood in recent years. A number of correction offices have conducted employee blood drives including Johnston and Robeson correctional centers. Central Prison has blood drives twice a year in the spring and fall. Nash Correctional Institution conducts blood drives every year in the winter and summer. Mike Bumgarner says they had a goal of 30 pints in their January 1998 blood drive and donations of 48 pints. u

NC DOC Correction News- April 1998
NC Department of Correction News
NC Department of Correction Homepage