One pint of blood can help save three patients
Published in the March 18-31, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Photo by Marty Cheek
Morgan Hill resident Chuck Flagg gives the Red Cross blood during a recent drive in Morgan Hill.
Jennifer Howard found out how important donating blood to the American Red Cross can be when she faced a health crisis. As part of its public affairs activity, she had helped organize blood drives at Morgan Hill’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints site on East Dunne Avenue. Through that effort, she had seen many people come in to give their blood to help strangers they might never meet.
“Two years ago I passed out because I had a bleeding ulcer,” Howard said. “I had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance and the doctor said I needed to have three blood transfusions. And I felt so grateful that people had donated blood. It pays back and pays forward.”
Morgan Hill resident Linda Christensen gives blood every two months in honor of her husband who was involved with the Red Cross Disaster Services program. When he became a diabetic and couldn’t give blood any more, she decided to start and help people as he had done. The blood she and others donate is tested and then distributed to people in other states or even around the world to help them during a medical emergency or during a hospital stay.
“It saves lives,” she said recently while giving blood at the Morgan Hill LDS Church. “They told me that I saved 108 lives. It feels good that we’re helpful.”
Sara O’Brien, communications manager with the Red Cross blood services in Santa Clara County, sees that many Morgan Hill residents are active throughout the year in giving blood at the Red Cross drives.
“Every time someone is able to donate, we’re able to help three different patients,” she said. “When you give one hour of time, you’re a hero, you’re a life-saver.”
Several churches in the city such as the LDS Church, the Advent Lutheran Church, and Saint Catherine’s Church hold blood drives. The city’s largest private employer, Anritsu Company, even encourages its employees as a team-building activity to give blood by holding drives at its Jarvis Drive site.
“They make it convenient,” O’Brien said. “When you have a company like them that goes ahead and gives the employees time off during the day, they don’t have to run out and drive somewhere. By allowing the Red Cross to come to the company, we can make it convenient and the workers can contribute to the community.”
For various reasons, not everyone is allowed to give blood. O’Brien encourages them to help out by volunteering their time working at a drive or contributing to the Red Cross in other ways. The website www.RedCross.org provides a list of options to help out.
Photo by Marty Cheek
Morgan Hill resident Linda Christensen gives blood during a recent drive at Morgan Hill’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
March is Red Cross month, an annual tradition started with a proclamation by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943. The American Red Cross was started May 21, 1881 by Clara Barton and others in Washington, D.C. While traveling in Europe after the American Civil War, Barton learned of the Swiss-inspired global Red Cross network. Later, she campaigned for a similar Red Cross in the United States.
Today, the Red Cross organizers, supporters, volunteers and employees provide help for people who are affected by disasters. It also works in providing health and safety education and training, blood collecting, processing and distribution, and support for members of the military and their families.
Although the Red Cross gets much media attention during times such as Hurricane Katrina or major earthquakes, many of the activities take place at a local level, O’Brien said.
“You never know when there might be a fire and a family is put out of their home and they need a place to stay or clothes and food,” she said. “That’s the biggest thing we do, really, is help every community when they have some sort of home or apartment disaster.”
Morgan Hill resident Tom Tanner, a project manager at Cisco Systems, has been involved in the Silicon Valley region with the American Red Cross for 10 years. He originally got active with the organization in St. Louis with the blood center in that Missouri city. As the chair of the local Red Cross advisory council, he has led in the coordination of the South County and Silicon Valley efforts in various activities.
Tanner also goes on national deployment operations. His first took place 10 years ago when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and he helped the people in New Orleans deal with the aftermath. He also helped with relief efforts in New York City after Hurricane Sandy. More recently, Tanner helped through the Red Cross with the devastation of wildfires that burned in Northern California last summer.
“In September I was in Placerville and El Dorado County for the King Fire, which was one of the largest wild fires ever,” he said.
Tanner gets much in personal benefits by being involved with the Red Cross.
“You get a lot of enjoyment out of helping someone else,” he said. “The people I work with are all great as well.”
Involvement in the Red Cross adds to his professional career as well, he said.
“When you go out on these calls, especially with the national disasters, there are skills that you gain that you can bring back into your job and workplace,” he said. “How to get a team organized, how to lead a team are some of the skills that you have to employ when you’re working these events.”
He also enjoys helping young people develop their skills by being involved in the Red Cross volunteer efforts.
“We have a youth team for the high school kids who need service hours,” he said. “Even starting at that age, they work with the Red Cross and learn new skills and fulfill their high school service hour requirements.”
People who are working or retired can go to the Red Cross website and find ways to volunteer. Much of the training is online now, but classes are often held at Morgan Hill’s Friendly Inn, he said.
“There are various functional areas that people can specialize in such as feeding, or sheltering, or logistics, or government work, or working with local partners,” he said. “There are a bunch of different areas that are exciting and fun. Then you can go on deployments as well, and that’s pretty exciting.”
