Blood Challenge Competition Touches Many Patient Lives

In a true caring and compassionate spirit, the Division of Pediatrics has successfully completed another blood donor challenge. For the past two years, the Pediatric Division has collaborated with Mayo Clinic’s Blood Donor Program to save approximately 350 lives. This friendly competition is multidisciplinary, including staff members from the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), General Pediatrics (Fr3C/2B), Mayo Sub-Specialty Clinics, Child Life, and Children’s R & R. Staff members are encouraged to support this endeavor and recruit their family and friends to donate.

The Division of Pediatrics was also creative in developing team names to represent each work area:

PICU: "PICU Platelets"  used the motto, "We stick together!"

Mayo 16: "Sleeves Up, Feet Up"

Gen Peds: "Peds Pints"

Child Life: "Poker Players"

R&R: "R&R Pints"

This last year was quite exciting as Team "Sleeves Up, Feet Up” thought it had the win by saving the most lives, when “Team Poker Players” took the lead in the last few days of the challenge. While the challenge is a friendly competition to engage staff and foster teamwork, it truly emphasizes the power of giving as the staff completed the challenge that ran between October and December 2016.

The goal of initiating these challenges is to inspire blood donation, volunteerism, and teamwork to our pediatric patients, families, and loved ones. The challenge has given staff the opportunity to come together as a collaborative team to serve the needs of others living out our Mayo Clinic values.