The South Texas Blood & Tissue celebrated the unveiling of its newly renovated New Braunfels donor center on May 23.
The revamped space includes new paint and flooring, furniture in the employee canteen and all screening rooms, and larger televisions displaying information for donors. All restrooms and break areas have been upgraded as well. Donors will relax on eight new donor beds and have the option to watch anything on Roku.
The wall has been adorned with rocks and corrugated metal, with the iconic double hearts logo prominently featured. The back wall has been accented our new blue color and will have graphics of the double hearts and the “You Give, They Live” slogan.
On the outside, the South Texas Blood & Tissue sign will be blue during the day and be illuminated by white lights at night.
Members of the community took part in the re-opening event, including representatives of the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce.
One of the guest speakers was New Braunfels resident Nicole Czelusta, who is a member of The Blood & Tissue Center Foundation board of directors. She talked about becoming an advocate for blood donations, as well as her experience with maternal hemorrhage.
“I didn’t go in thinking that I was going to have a near-death experience that day, and I was just so grateful that they had the blood on hand to be able to give me that transfusion and allow me to be here today and be a wife and mother and friend,” Czelusta said to the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.
It is the first location featuring mixed reality tech, aimed at attracting a younger donor demographic.
The mixed-reality technology was created by Abbott and the Blood Centers of America. Donors wear a lightweight headset to enter a calming digital world where they plant virtual seeds and bring nature-inspired holograms to life, all while being fully aware of their surroundings.
According to Abbott, within the last 10 years, blood centers have seen about a 30 percent decrease in donors under the age of 30. With the help of mixed reality, there was an 11 percent increase in donors ages 16 to 24.
Studies from Transfusion journal have also shown using mixed reality during blood donation helped ease anxiety and apprehensions with new donors and boosted likelihood that donors would return to give blood again.
The headset will be available on a first-come, first- served basis.
