'Good Choice' to Donate

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“I had to prepare over 200 units of products for one liver transplant patient one time,” says Chris Sierra, a technician who works in the UCLA Blood & Platelet Center in Ackerman Union. “I deal with blood collection, whole blood collection, platelet collection and fresh plasma collection. A couple of co-workers and I opened this location ten years ago. It was a good choice. We pull in a lot of products and it not only helps out the patients and the hospital, but it makes it convenient for students on campus to come by and donate between classes or on their lunch break. I always tell students that and a pinch of pain in that first thirty seconds of donating is less pain than the recipient will have in receiving these products.”