The Blood Donor Center recently launched the fourth year of its popular employee loyalty program by honoring staff members who give.

The employee loyalty program is a yearlong drive in which employees can earn prizes and vouchers good for time off just for donating blood or platelets. City of Hope’s Blood Donor Center culminated last year’s program by recognizing employee donors at its Employee Donor Luncheon on Jan. 30.

Nurse Tohn Sy prepares executive assistant Vivian Thacher for her blood donation. (Photo by p.cunningham)

Nearly 200 attendees cheered at the luncheon in Cooper Auditorium as the following “Top 5” employees were recognized for donating the most blood and platelets throughout the 2009-10 program year: Anita Robinette (25 donations), Barbara Dear (22 donations), Richard Campos (19 donations), James Filkins (14 donations) and Michael Rorman (13 donations).

Michael A. Friedman, M.D., president, chief executive officer and holder of the Irell & Manella Cancer Center Director’s Distinguished Chair, was the guest speaker at the event, which featured a raffle and lunch from In-N-Out.

Program participants earn raffle tickets for each blood donation they or their designees make throughout the program year. Hospitality Services has generously subsidized the cost of the raffle prizes every year, center staff noted.

In the loyalty program, employees can earn up to eight “loyalty hours” for time off by donating five times during the program year. The current program year began Feb. 1 and ends Jan. 31, 2011. The program also offers other loyalty gifts such as collapsible lunch totes, acrylic insulated drink cups that can be used for discounted refills at the cafeteria, and tool kits, as well as monthly raffles for preferred parking spots and other prizes.

“City of Hope constantly needs blood products, so regular donors make a difference,” said Jill Schwarz, recruitment manager of the Donor Apheresis Center. The center aims to have 10 percent of City of Hope employees participate and to obtain 1,500 units of whole blood and platelets this year through the program.

“We need more donors and for them to donate more frequently,” said Schwarz. “We welcome feedback from people as to how we can better get them in the door and ready to donate.”

Schwarz also noted that the center is currently working on an education campaign set to launch this summer to raise awareness of the need for platelets.

Meanwhile, the need for donations has reached critical levels. Snow storms in other parts of the country, holiday travel and the cold and flu season reduced the available blood supply, and the donor center is struggling to keep up with demand. As a result, City of Hope now spends about $500,000 every month on blood products.

For more information about the employee loyalty program or the upcoming Cinco de Mayo-themed blood drive, please contact Latascha Johnson at ext. 61133 or ljohnson@coh.org.