For nearly 85 years, the American Red Cross has been at the forefront of blood collection in the United States.
According to several online sources, someone in the U.S. needs blood every two seconds.
“It is essential for surgeries, cancer treatment, chronic illnesses, and traumatic injuries,” redcross.org stated. “Whether a patient receives whole blood, red cells, platelets or plasma, this lifesaving care starts with one person making a generous donation.”
But, as recently as January 2024, the Red Cross declared an emergency blood shortage, citing “the lowest number of people giving blood in the last 20 years.”
Alicia Chianta, of Otego, works to ensure local donations.
“I’m a program leader, or donor ambassador, and I primarily recruit, and then I also attend the drives,” Chianta said.
Chianta, 18, said she got involved while seeking volunteer hours toward her high school graduation.
“I just posted on Facebook saying, ‘Hey, does anybody need help with anything?’ and a woman who was a volunteer for the American Red Cross, who was hosting a blood drive in Otego, said, ‘I could use you,’” she said. “Then, her supervisor was at the drive, and she pulled me aside and said, ‘I like you, I like what you do, meet me at the Southside Mall and I’m going to teach you how to work blood drives.’ I’ve been doing it ever since, so about a year and a half.”
But, Chianta said, it is “a struggle to get people to want to donate.”
“It’s definitely fewer (donors), and it’s hard to get donors,” she said. “But there really is an urgent need. It’s any type of disasters. The United States works together, and blood goes all around the country, from everywhere, so, as the American Red Cross, we work to make sure blood gets to where it truly needs to be.”
Longtime donor and Walton resident Ron Galley said he’s seen the drop off, too.
“There’s just a real need for blood,” he said, saying that he is O positive, making his blood type universally acceptable. “I think I’d heard that it’s only 1% of the population that donates blood. There’s probably a few less (people). When I first started donating blood, we went to the armory here in Walton, and that’s a large location. After 9/11, they could no longer use it, so we’re using smaller venues … and it’s trickier to give blood now, because they’re asking more questions. They have to ask more questions to keep the blood safe.”
Galley has been making regular donations since 1983. He said he’s donated 27.1 gallons of blood in that time, and donates every two months. The official interval permitted, per the Red Cross, is every 56 days.
Origins of blood donation
According to redcross.org, an “early blood processing program for relief of English war victims, called Plasma for Britain,” began in May 1940, under the direction of Dr. Charles Drew. And it was Drew who, in February 1941, began the National Blood Donor Service “to collect blood for the U.S. military.”
Humanitarian Clarissa Harlowe Barton, more commonly known as Clara Barton, is credited with founding the American branch of the organization years before.
Redcross.org stated that it was during the American Civil War that Barton earned her nickname as Angel of the Battlefield, for provision of supplies and nursing services to Civil War soldiers.
“During a trip to Switzerland in 1869, Clara learned about the Red Cross movement, a European humanitarian effort to provide neutral aid to those injured in combat,” the site stated. “Inspired by that cause, Clara volunteered with the International Committee of the Red Cross, providing civilian relief during the Franco-Prussian War. This experience, along with her work during the Civil War, inspired Clara to bring the Red Cross movement to America.”
Drew’s concept of blood collection concretized during World War II.
“The U.S. Armed Forces asked the Red Cross to create and operate a national blood donor program to collect blood for shipment to the British Isles,” redcross.org stated. “To assist in this effort, the first bloodmobile visited the Farmingdale, New York Red Cross Chapter on March 10, 1941.”
“After the war, few hospitals had blood banks,” the site continued. “Many relied on direct transfusion from donor to patient. In 1947, the Red Cross approved the introduction of the first national civilian blood program, the largest peacetime health project undertaken by the organization. A year later in 1948, the first regional blood center opened in Rochester, New York.”
Today’s American Red Cross reflects Barton’s moniker that “You must never think of anything except the need, and how to meet it.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services echoed: “Our nation’s blood supply dropped to historic lows during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are no longer in crisis, but we need your help to ensure there is never a shortage again. Donate today to make sure blood is available when it’s needed. Then donate again and again and again. The more often you give, the more lives you can save.”
‘We want more younger donors’
Chianta said that while she sees and appreciates such longtime donors, part of the challenge is finding new donors.
“It’s a large range, but we want more younger donors,” she said. “You can donate at 16 with parental consent, and we want more of those. But we do have a lot of older donors who have been donating for a really long time. I get so many, and it’s really nice. I mainly run the Southside Mall drives — I do skip around — but a lot of my donors there, because I’ve been doing it so long, they come back. My donors are great.”
Efforts to contemporize the process, Chianta said, also have helped.
“We have the Blood Donor App, where you can track your blood and watch where it goes after you donate, and those little things are incentives,” she said. “We give away T-shirts, sunglasses, lanterns. We’ve done flashlights. All those things bring in a larger crowd. It’s definitely the blood drives that have more incentives offered that bring in more donors.”
Sources said blood drive involvement is consistently driven by a sense of philanthropy.
“I can’t personally donate, because I’m really small, but I think it’s awesome to give back,” Chianta said. “So, this is my small piece.”
“I started back in 1973, and a friend of mine was a regular blood donor at the time,” Galley said. “I was always really afraid of needles, and didn’t want to get into it, but she said, ‘It’s really no big deal,’ and I found it wasn’t hard at all.
“It is nice to give something back,” he continued. “My dad was a blood donor, and my sister was a blood donor, so it’s just something we’ve done in the family for a long time. I’ve only missed a couple times, because of low blood pressure or pulse being low, but I’ve always tried to give, every time I could. I would encourage anybody, if you haven’t given blood before. It’s not that hard, and there is a need.”
Chianta recommended using the Blood Donor App to locate area blood drives, calling it “really helpful.” For more information, or to use the Find a Drive feature, visit redcrossblood.org.
Upcoming drives are taking place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23 at the Southside Mall in Oneonta; 1:30-5:30 p.m. Aug. 28 at the Laurens Fire Department; noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 3 at Fox Care in Oneonta; and 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sept. 6 at Hartwick College.