By Sean Inoue, Red Cross Biomedical Services
The American Red Cross has been hard at work ensuring there is enough blood for patients during this ongoing crisis. However, we cannot do our work alone. Most blood drives take place because of generous partners in the community including schools, hospitals, community organizations, cities and other civic organizations. To thank them for their dedication and hard work in being partners, every month we will identify and feature two community partners that have gone above and beyond in their critical role to ensure a stable blood supply. The “Service Spotlight” is our way of saying “thank you” to our generous and paramount partners.
L.A. Care
As longstanding partners of the Red Cross, L.A. Care has embodied their vision for a healthy community by hosting regular blood drives in their DTLA headquarters during some of our most critical times of the year.
During a time of turmoil and uncertainty, L.A. Care continued with their regularly scheduled blood drives and invited local community donors to join them.
“With the impact of COVID and with most of our employees working from home, we are pleased that we could open the lobby area of our offices as a safe and secure place to host blood drives for the public,” said Tom Schwaninger, Senior Executive Advisor of Digital Ecosystem Interoperability for L.A.Care and LA Regional Board Member. “It’s been heartening to see the drives fully booked and see the smiles of those coming in to donate their lifesaving blood.”
In the past few years along, we have collected 638 pints of blood together, helping to save up to 1,914 lives. The American Red Cross would like to thank LA Care Health Plan and Schwaninger for their commitment to our mission together and the profound impact we’ve been able to make because of it. We’re proud to have you in our Red Cross family.
Specialty Restaurant Corporation
Specialty Restaurants Corporation (SPC) is known for their award-winning destination restaurants. For more than 60 years, SPC has been focusing on creating unforgettable experiences for guests and have opened their doors for a special cause: community blood drives.
As we adjust during this pandemic, one of the challenges we face is finding large, community accessible sites for blood drives. SPC has graciously picked up the baton and offered their event spaces and invited local donors to join us. So far, we’ve hosted 14 blood drives across the greater LA area, collected 584 pints of blood helping to save up to 1,752 lives. Both Odyssey and Castaway Restaurants have monthly upcoming drives. Please join us for some incredible views, help save some lives and discover your blood type!
Host a Blood Drive
About 80 percent of blood donations are made at drives hosted by community organizations, schools and businesses. With the current pandemic, the Red Cross urgently needs the help of both donors and drive hosts to ensure blood products are readily available for patients.
Learn more and sign up to sponsor a drive by visiting RedCrossBlood.org/HostADrive.
Thank you to this month’s blood drive spotlights and to all who host blood drives in their communities to help us meet this essential need.
I’m a Red Cross volunteer how do I sign up to help on Blood drives.
You can learn about our Blood Services volunteer opportunities here: https://www.redcross.org/local/california/los-angeles/volunteer/blood-services-volunteer.html