Spurred by the onset of the pandemic, Rochester blood researcher starts a new donation tradition

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.

For the Rochester native, the uncertainties, particularly in the early days of the pandemic, seemed to have had the opposite effect.

“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