Blood donors make altruistic gift
Daniel McKay / Whitefish Pilot Eleanor Hale and Merry Lynn Southers at the Whitefish Community Blood Drive at The Wave on Nov. 17.
Katy Jensen donates blood at the Whitefish Community Blood Drive at The Wave on Nov. 17.
Ed Hannigan donates blood at the Whitefish Community Blood Drive at The Wave on Nov. 17.
“It’s just the right thing to do” is a common sentiment to hear from donors at the Whitefish Community Blood Drive.
Some donors received a blood transfusion at some point in their life, and even more know someone else who received blood when it was an urgent need. But according to several donors at the blood drive this month at The Wave, those experiences aren’t as high on the list as donating because they feel a responsibility to help others.
Vicki Holbrook lived in Whitefish for 11 years before moving to East Glacier a year ago. She’s donated blood for the last 12 years, stopping in to a blood drive every chance she gets, but when asked if she thinks about the blood transfusion her husband received when she donates, the answer was a simple “no.”
“I just thought it would be a good thing to give blood to people,” Holbrook said. “I can even look at [the needle] now.”
The American Red Cross holds the Whitefish Community Blood Drive on the third Thursday of every odd-numbered month. The blood drive has been at The Wave for nearly a decade.
Growing up with an emergency room nurse for a mother, Merry Lynn Southers said she gained an appreciation for the need for blood transfusions early on.
“You can’t make blood,” said Southers, a volunteer for the Red Cross. “You can make heart valves and prosthetics, everything, but you can’t make blood.”
After feeling guilty about not donating the first time a blood drive came to her office decades ago, Southers signed up at the next opportunity and didn’t stop donating until a health issue forced her to lend her hand by volunteering instead.
“I’ve been hooked ever since,” she said. “For me it was easy, some people have smaller veins or are squeamish, but for me it was pretty easy.”
Southers and volunteer Jean Loercher run the blood drive in Whitefish.
To donate, a person must be at least 17 years old or 16 with parental consent and weigh at least 110 pounds.
The entire donation process takes about an hour. A donor checks in to a registration table upon arriving and is provided information about donating blood. A short confidential interview that covers health history follows to ensure donors are eligible and healthy. During this interview, temperature, pulse, blood pressure and hemoglobin levels are checked.
The donation takes about 10 minutes to collect one pint of blood, and afterward donors are provided a snack and something to drink and are able to leave around 15 minutes after donating.
The Kalispell Red Cross services a 130-mile area from Libby to Browning and Polson, holding around 25 blood drives per month in various communities.
Sandy Carlson, donor recruitment representative for the Red Cross in Kalispell, said donated blood primarily goes to hospitals in the Flathead Valley, but if there’s a surplus the blood is sent to other places in the state. If the state has a surplus, the blood is sent to other hospitals in the Red Cross’ Lewis and Clark region, which is comprised of Montana, Idaho, Utah, parts of Arizona and Las Vegas.
Carlson remembers seeing high numbers of donors back when the blood drives were held at North Valley Hospital in its old location on U.S. Highway 93 South. When the hospital relocated to near Montana 40, however, donations began to decrease as the donation center hopped around to different locations and lost its sponsor.
Since the blood drive moved to The Wave, Carlson said they’ve seen a steady increase in volume donated.
“For us to come up here and see 50, 60 people, it’s amazing. It’s grown a lot in the last few years,” she said.
On Nov. 17 the blood drive checked in 63 potential donors and collected a total of 53 pints of blood, surpassing the day’s goal of 42 pints.
Southers said it was the best turnout she’s seen in the last four years.
Katy Jensen was one of those recent donors. Jensen, a tech writer for a company based in Denver, moved to Whitefish last year, but has donated blood for the last 20 years.
“I was in a car accident when I was a kid, and I’m sure I received a lot of blood then,” Jensen said with a shrug. “It’s just a worthwhile thing to do.”
For further information about the American Red Cross Blood Donation Program and why blood donations are so very important, go to www.redcrossblood.org.
The next blood drive will be on Jan. 19 at The Wave.