Tag Archives: blood

Local Hospital Acknowledged by DHEC Newborn Screening Program for Becoming Champions of Satisfactory Dried Blood Spot Collection

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Newborn screening is a state public health service intended to identify infants who may be at an increased risk of certain disorders. Many consider newborn screening the most successful public health program in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) listed newborn screening as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the last decade.*

The term “newborn screening” refers to the collective group of conditions screened at birth including dried blood spot, hearing, and Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD). Our focus for this post is on Newborn Screening dried blood spots.

Every infant born in South Carolina is screened for unexpected medical conditions by collecting a blood sample, or blood spot specimen, from the infant’s heel 24 to 48 hours after birth. Five blood spots are obtained from approximately 57,000 infants born in South Carolina every year. Once dried and packaged, those blood spots are sent to the South Carolina Public Health Laboratory, where they are assessed for proper testing criteria also known as a satisfactory specimen collection.

If the laboratory deems the collection as unsatisfactory, those specimens are rejected, and the lab is unable to test for more than 50 disorders that are identifiable during the newborn period. Many of these disorders are time-critical or life-threatening. A repeat specimen is then requested, and a pediatrician, hospital, or health department is tasked with recollecting the specimen. This process can lead to a critical time delay of identifying an infant with a time critical disorder, timely diagnosis and treatment. Getting it right the first time, every time is important for all babies born in South Carolina.

 

In June 2019, the Newborn Screening Program, along with partners from the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA), traveled to McLeod Health Clarendon in Manning, SC. This recent visit was to recognize the hospital staff for achieving 100% satisfactory blood spot specimens in 2018. When the nurse manager, Debi, received a call from DHEC to acknowledge her facility’s accomplishment, she was pleasantly surprised. She revealed that her staff began to champion their newborn screening blood spot collection after attending the DHEC “First Time, Every Time” dried blood spot collection training workshop.

The processes implemented after the training guided them along a journey for success. Here is what Debi had to say: “I could not be prouder of my diligent and conscientious Women’s Services team at McLeod Health Clarendon; they truly exemplify our mission of providing excellence in healthcare! We would also like to thank the SC DHEC newborn screening team for making such a positive impact in the health care of all South Carolina newborns!” -Debi Love-Ballard, R.N., Director of McLeod Health Clarendon’s Women and Infant Services.

DHEC Group Pic for Newborn Screening Awards

McLeod Health Clarendon was the only South Carolina hospital to accomplish the goal of 100% satisfactory bloodspot specimen collection in 2018.  Approximately 400 infants received their results in a timely manner without experiencing a repeat collection process.

Congratulations McLeod Health Clarendon. Their impact on the babies born in their community is a true representation of DHEC’s vision of Healthy People, Healthy Communities in South Carolina.

For more information about newborn screening, visit https://scdhec.gov/health-professionals/lab-certification-services/newbornscreening and https://www.babysfirsttest.org/.

* Koppaka, R Ten great public health achievements – United States, 2001–2010. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly. Rep. 2011;60(19):619–623

Raising the Awareness Bar on Sickle Cell Trait and Sickle Cell Disease

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September is National Sickle Cell Awareness Month, let’s raise the awareness bar to highlight sickle cell trait and sickle cell disease.

What is Sickle Cell Disease?

 SCD is a blood disorder that causes sickling of the red blood cells, which diminishes the amount of oxygen the red blood cell can carry throughout the body. Persons who have SCD suffer from crises — episodes of intense and excruciating pain that may be in one or multiple parts of the body when sickle-shaped red blood cells become stuck in a blood vessel and cause a disruption of blood flow in that particular area. While people are most familiar with sickle cell anemia, other variations of sickle cell, or mutations, include sickle cell thalassemia, sickle beta thalassemia, and others.

What is Sickle Cell Trait?

 SCT results when a person inherits one sickle cell gene and one normal gene from either of their parents. Persons with sickle cell trait usually do not have any of the symptoms of SCD, but they can pass the trait on to their children.

How are SCT and SCD related?

 An individual who has SCD has a family history of SCT – meaning the person’s parent(s) have sickle cell trait or sickle cell disease. SCD is inherited when a child receives two sickle cell genes from each parent. For someone who has SCT, the likelihood of having a child that has SCD or SCT is different. If both parents have SCT, there is a 50 percent chance the child will have SCT, a 25 percent chance the child may have SCD, and a 25 percent chance the child will not have SCD or SCT.

SickleCellAwareness 2018

The urge to increase awareness on sickle cell trait and disease is apparent across several organizations.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new informational materials and videos of individuals’ personal experiences living with sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait. To view these videos, visit cdc.gov/ncbddd/sicklecell/materials/video.html.

What is South Carolina’s response?

The South Carolina Sickle Cell Disease Advocacy Team (SCSCDAT) was established in 2017 with one common goal – to improve the treatment and care received by individuals and their families who have sickle cell disease. A multidisciplinary team comprised of physicians, hematologists, government agencies, non-profit organizations, healthcare management organizations, and individuals living with SCD and their family members, has been working on a statewide sickle cell disease plan to address the lack of resources to proficiently care and treat individuals of all ages living with sickle cell disease. The plan will help coordinate and improve collaboration in the areas of education, outreach, treatment, and funding.

Community-based organizations at work

Currently, DHEC maintains partnerships with four sickle cell community-based organizations — the James R. Clark Memorial Sickle Cell Foundation, the Louvenia D. Barksdale Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation, the Orangeburg Area Sickle Cell Foundation and the COBRA Human Services Agency Sickle Cell Program. Through these partnerships, more people with sickle cell are able to obtain services and support. These organizations work to provide education, counseling, testing for sickle cell trait, and family support.

Although September is National Sickle Cell Awareness Month, increasing public and community knowledge about sickle cell is a 365-day initiative. Raise the awareness bar on sickle cell trait and sickle cell disease.

If you have questions about testing for you or your family, you can visit one of the four sickle cell community-based organizations. For more general information about sickle cell, visit cdc.gov/sicklecell or www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sca.

DHEC in the News: HIV prevention, swimming advisory, vaccines

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Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

North Charleston HIV prevention group is reaching at-risk with free testing

A North Charleston HIV testing group recently began driving a van filled with blood tests, condoms and literature to a homeless shelter, a gay bar and local churches.

Despite the difference in these settings, the recently rebranded Palmetto Community Care is targeting each of the populations at these locations by offering HIV and hepatitis C tests outside the clinic’s walls.

Temporary swimming advisory issued in Myrtle Beach, DHEC says

Some sections of the beach in Myrtle Beach have been placed under a swimming advisory after high levels of bacteria were detected, the Department of Health and Environmental Control reported.

General Interest
Opting out of vaccines leaves these US ‘hot spots’ most vulnerable for outbreaks

(CNN)A number of American states and metropolitan “hot spots” are vulnerable to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease, new research suggests. The reason? Children whose parents opted out of vaccination.

The risk of outbreaks is rising in 12 of the 18 states that permit nonmedical exemptions from childhood vaccinations, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS Medicine. Those states are Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Utah.

American Stroke Month

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It’s American Stroke Month. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When this happens, part of your brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs and starts to die.

Up to 80 percent of strokes may be preventable. Stroke is South Carolina’s third biggest killer. In 2012, 14,827 people were treated for stroke in South Carolina hospitals. The total cost of hospitalizations due to stroke in South Carolina in 2012 was $638 million.

Facts about strokes:

  • Strokes kill brain cells.
  • There are different types of strokes.
  • About 1 in 4 stroke survivors is at risk for another.
  • Prevention is key.
  • Time lost is brain lost.

DHEC in the News: Opioids, HIV, flu

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Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

What’s new with the opioid epidemic? You!

LEXINGTON, SC (WIS) – It’s a story that keeps making headlines – the opioid addiction problem.

Every few days a news story highlights the growing number of those addicted and the deaths that come as a result.

A doctor at Lexington Medical Center says there is something new in the fight against the opioid problem. It’s you.

Lowcountry AIDS Services tested a record number of HIV positive people in January

A local nonprofit that provides free HIV testing is warning that it tested more people positive for the virus in January than in any other month in its 20-year history.

North Charleston-based Lowcountry AIDS Services says seven people tested positive in the month of January, the largest number in a single month. In contrast, no one tested positive in January 2017.

General Interest

Widespread flu causing large shortage in blood donations in South Carolina

The Blood Connection is appealing for donors because the flu is keeping regular donors at home.

“When donors are unable to keep their scheduled appointments because of the flu, the community blood supply drops,” said Dr. Robert Rainer, medical director at the agency.