The days and weeks that followed the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 were filled with uncertainty. The day-to-day routines to which we’d been accustomed coming to a standstill as the world all but shut down as it eagerly awaited answers.
Educators and employers alike switched to virtual formats,
forced to reassess the way in which they served the public with little notice.
The American Red Cross and its partners were no exception. Like many
organizations, we had to pivot in the wake of these changes both internally and
externally to continue our mission-driven work of delivering help and hope,
while maintaining a safe environment for our volunteer workforce and the people
we are proud to serve.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the Red Cross has
experienced about a 10 percent drop in the number of blood donors and a 62
percent drop in blood drives at local schools and colleges, further
contributing to what is now a crisis-level blood shortage nationwide. As a
result, the nation’s blood supply levels are at their lowest levels in more
than a decade. To add to that challenge, locally in 2021 alone, the number of
first-time blood donors in our region dropped by more than 34 percent – largely
due to the pandemic.
And then there’s Paul Kingsley.
“I was an occasional donor and hadn’t given for a while. But
then I saw something on the media in April or May [of 2020]. Everything was
shut down, people were working from home, unemployment was soaring. I was
working from home at the time, and they said there’s still a desperate need for
blood and they talked about how the bandwidth for donors was smaller. But they
went through some of the protections in place to protect them and I decided, I
think May of 2020, to donate blood and promote it on Twitter and Facebook to
let people know – hey, yes, everything is risky these days, but this is
something you can do to actually help people. Blood is the gift of life, so I
chose to give.”
Kingsley should know better than anyone. Given his line of
work with the University of Rochester for more than 30 years, he has a unique
perspective on the benefits of blood donation. Not to mention that his decision
to share with others on social media pays off. We first connected, after he
tweeted some words of encouragement to potential donors; along with a brief
personal background on his decision to donate.
“I'm a research scientist at the University of Rochester
Medical Center and I work on blood cell development, including red blood cell
development and being in a clinical department, in the Department of
Pediatrics, I'm well aware of patients who have various anemias, like sickle
cell anemia, how important red cells are – and also for people with cancer,
especially kids with cancer. How important transfusions are.”
Nearly two years on from the onset of the pandemic, the
ability to supply the lifesaving blood needed to treat those patients in need
has never been under greater threat. A number of factors including COVID,
winter weather and others have continued to impact the nation’s blood inventory
with fewer donations leading to a less than day’s supply of critical blood
types in recent weeks and donors like Kingsley are the only source.
“I give probably every eight weeks,” he explained. “Whenever
they send me the notice I say ‘Ok, I’ll schedule.’ So I’ve become a more
frequent donor and try to make up for people who can’t give or might be
concerned about giving.”
But it’s also become more than that for the researcher whose
continued penchant for blood donation also began as a way to honor his father’s
legacy of donating, through his regular appointments he now makes a point of
honoring others.
“There are drives to honor or to recognize people who may
have passed on, so sometimes I’ll look and see what’s available. I’ve done that
a number of times or made an effort to go to a different place than I normally
do just to see the people who show up there and to help to recognize that
person and participate.”
Just like Paul, you can participate and make a difference by
making an appointment to donate in the days and weeks to come by visiting
RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or downloading the free Red Cross
Blood Donor app.
Meg Rossman, Regional Communications Manager, American Red Cross of WNY
