A refrigerator-sized agitator cabinet is gently sliding a group of trays side to side at the American Red Cross Southwest Indiana Chapter in Evansville. Dana Herring is working in this distribution room.
“They just agitate platelets back and forth, keep them moving. So they don't clot up,” she said.
This is important because that’s exactly why platelets are important — they are cells within human blood that prevent bleeding by forming clots.
This sorting area is where technically — Beth Sweeney, executive director — the media can’t go. But Dana gave us the OK.
“You can peek in here, but this is where the blood is processed,” she said pointing to the agitators and crates of foam boxes. “… those are where everything is stored.”
The distribution room is sort of in the middle of the multi-step process of taking the blood from the arms of donors, to the arms of the patients who need it. Sweeney said patients can be local or far away.
O-negative is the universal donor blood type so it’s always needed. They also extract platelets and plasma. Plasma accounts for 55-percent of whole blood, and transports platelets, red blood cells, white blood cells and nutrients through the bloodstream.
“So the American Red Cross here in the southwest chapter, we provide blood to all of our area hospitals,” Sweeney said. “So all of those Deaconess locations, Ascension Memorial Hospital up in Jasper, we even have counties as part of our chapter in Illinois.”
It goes to local hospitals or wherever it’s needed. “Sometimes we might get a call from a hospital in Louisville, for example, when the mass shooting happened with Old National Bank in Louisville, we got calls for emergency platelet donations there.”
She says blood products are collected at blood drives and then sorted in this room with the agitators. After sorting it’s sent to a facility for testing in St. Louis. Then it’s sent back to Evansville to be distributed to local hospitals.
“And that's all done by volunteers,” she said. “So we have volunteers who are called Blood Transportation Specialists that are constantly delivering blood to area hospitals or wherever it is needed.”
In the nearby warehouse room there are organized piles of storage totes and coolers to prepare for blood drives.
“So, ice for the blood products, snacks, for all of those donors that are going to be there, all of the equipment that we need to collect that blood,” Sweeney said. “So this is where all of that is stored.”
Thursday, October 12, happened to be near the end of a blood drive held right at the facility.
“All right, friend, give me a few squeezes then hold a tight fist,” said Phlebotomist Kaci Shine, preparing a donor to give whole blood.
Sweeney said the American Red Cross provides 40-percent of the nation's blood supply. But, donations have been down about 25 percent since August. She’s guessing it’s because of summer break and she’s hoping this nationwide shortage can rebound.
“There's also been a change since the pandemic where a lot of people are working from home,” she said. “So they're not in those situations where they can just pop over to a blood drive or be at their workplace blood drive to donate. So those are some of the reasons behind that blood shortage.”
Natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires can draw staff and resources away from holding blood drives, while also increasing the need for blood.
“So we're doing our best to get the word out there and try to get people active and showing up for drives.”
The donor Kaci Shine is working with has already given about eight gallons.
“So you can almost assuredly multiply that eight gallons … every unit by three people and that's how many you hope every time you donate potentially,” she said to the woman.
Volunteering at the blood drive intake spot is Sara Miller, blood ambassador. She works for Old National Bank in Evansville. She said the shooting in April brought a heightened focus on donations within her organization.
“It truly is the gift of life,” she said. “And if you can do it, it will make a difference in the life of someone else.“
There are several ways to help, whether hosting a blood drive, donating or volunteering. Learn more at the Red Cross Website.
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