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4PortraitsBy: Lillian Ackley•* “I have actually had two careers, nursing and blood banking, and I’ve enjoyed them both,” said Hester Scanlin of Sayre.Hester Scanlin is one of the “'Beautiful People.” Not in the usual connotation of the superrich, highly sophisticated ladies of the jet-set, but in the sense of **l)eing an extremely attractive woman whose pleasant personality, friendliness, energy and technical skill make it a joy to know her.She is the wife of Jay Scanlin, mother of six and proud grandmother of 11. For more than 15 years she has sparked the operation of the blood bank at Robert Packer Hospital-Gut hrie Clinic.■* As Hester Ray of Alpine, N.Y., she graduated from the Robert Packer Hospital School of Nursing with the Class of 19.‘V1. Immediately after graduation she accepted a position at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, but returned to Packer in 1935 to become the hospital’s first allergy technician.She and Mr. Scanlin were « married in 1935, and she stopped working tem|:)orarily in 1938 to begin her family. She did some part-time work at the hospital during the next 18 years, and returned full-time in 1956. She was assigned to the blood bank in 1957, and has been its supervisor for a number of years.“Blood banking is a very technical operation,” she said. “You liave to be able to accept responsibility, to check and • double check your work, and you have to keep up with all the advances in the field.”“All blood bank personnel have to be well trained,” she emphasized. “Tliere is no margin for error. You must be completely honest with yourself and with your work”Mrs. Scanlin said that there is a popular and persistent misconception about people having to pay for blood given to p the blood bank by volunteers. This simply is not true at Robert Packer Hospital, she said “Tlie hospital is a member of the Red Cross, and as such does not charge anyone for blood. There Is a service charge to cover transportation of the blood, the technical work involved in making certain that each patient requiring a transfusion gets the right blood, and for ad-■ I■■ . ‘%■Hester Scanlinministration of the transfusion. Rut there is not, and has not been, any charge for the blood itself.”There have been many changes in blood banking during Mrs. Scanlin’s tenure as blood bank supervisor. One of the most exciting, she said, is the discovery of an immune globulin to prevent Rh blood disease which previously claimed the lives of many newborn babies lx)rn to Rh Negative mothers, liefore discovery of the immune globulin, she said, there were many calls for blood for complete transfasions for newborn infants. Now there are very few.Mrs. Scanlin pointed out that the blood bank at Robert Packer Hospital has been a member of the American Association of Blood ikinks since 1948, one year after the a.ssociation was formed. The blood bank at Sayre has been accredited by the A.A.B.B. for the last eight years.Mrs. Scanlin has been an active member of her School of Nursing Alumni Association ever since graduation. She has served as its president, is now vice-president, and has been a member of the scholarship committee for several years. She is particularly interested in the scholarship program.She also has been president of District Three, Pennsylvania Nurses Association, and is presently publicity chairman for that group. She also has held state office in the special group section.Slie is a member of the Giurch «)f the Kpiphany at Sayre, past grand regent of the Catholic Daughters of America, the American {..egion Auxiliary and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary.Slie is an ardent bridge fan, but is not the least bit athletically inclined and does not enjoy participating in sports activities.
Newspaper Details
The Daily Review
Towanda, Pennsylvania, US
Tue, Nov 13, 1973
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Leigh A.
USA 15 Jul 2018
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