February 2, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - We're having a baby shower and you're invited, but don't bring baby clothes or a stroller. To join the festivities, just bring a pint of your blood to donate during a blood-drive baby shower in honor of the newest "baby" on the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) campus, the Women & Infants Center, due to open Feb. 21.
The goal of the UAB/Red Cross drive is to collect 500 units of blood from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 22-26 in the UAB Hospital North Pavilion second floor atrium. Donors need to have a photo ID.
The 430,000-square-foot Women & Infants Center is the latest addition to UAB's family of state-of-art medical facilities, and it is as a reminder of the need for a constant, dependable supply of blood products. UAB ranks in the top five among hospitals supplied by the Red Cross, and it is one of the nation's largest users of blood products. Difficult pregnancies can use large amounts of blood, as can surgeries, transplantation, trauma care and cancer treatment. A single patient may require as many as 100 units.
In addition to the highest level of care for both routine and complex pregnancies, well and sick newborn and gynecologic cancer and problems, the Women & Infants Center will focus on providing patients and families with a homelike setting and amenities that might be found in a top-level hotel - valet parking, DVD players, flat-screen TVs, family lounges and play rooms, sleep space in all rooms for a spouse, parent or support person, mini-refrigerators, patient-family computer centers and laundries and room-service meals. The maternity care facilities are designed to keep parents of even the sickest infants together throughout the newborn's stay.
About UAB
Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is the state of Alabama's largest employer and an internationally renowned research university and academic health center whose professional schools and specialty patient care programs are consistently ranked as among the nation's top 50; find more information at www.uab.edu and www.uabmedicine.org.