By Ken Koerner
Register Staff

3-8-2008

Blanche DuBois, a sultry character in the Tennessee Williams play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” uttered one uniquely unforgettable line, “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

For reasons far less complex and far more healthy than DuBois’, “the kindness of strangers” is back in the spotlight thanks to a number of “characters” living in the Eastern Sierra.
Turning out at levels very close to what was seen last year, blood donors have been showing kindness to strangers by donating blood during sessions held this week (March 3-7) in Lone Pine and Bishop.
“This whole week has been a very good one for adding to the essential blood supplies we gather,” United Blood Services Senior Donor Recruitment Representative Jan McKee said. “There’s never any doubt that the good people of Inyo County are going to be there to help us, help others. The national data shows that for every blood donor that gives, three lives can end up being saved.”

United Blood Services staffer Victoria Urias prepares to draw blood from Mike McElvogue. The Bishop man has been donating blood for over a decade. Photo by Ken Koerner

United Blood Services has been working with local groups for years to schedule both the locations and the dates when the donation centers will be in place. “The Southern Inyo Hospital Auxiliary group has been great in this effort once again,” said McKee. “They were our partner in making the Lone Pine outreach a success … and Northern Inyo Hospital and the NIH Auxiliary played that same important role for us when we moved our donor center up to Bishop. Bishop has always been among our most successful locations.”
While the donors themselves are certainly delivering kindness to strangers, thanks to the gift of blood impacting the lives of multiple people they’ll never know, the auxiliaries also play an important part in ensuring the donor process is handled with both care and efficiency.
“These auxiliary volunteers do so much during both of the visits we make to the area each year,” McKee said. “They make phone calls to help us, they schedule appointments with individual donors, they even bake all the delicious cookies and treats for the donors. I don’t see how we could do this all without them.”
According to statistics, 90 percent of the general population will either personally need, or will have a family member that will need blood. Statistically, only 5 percent of that population will donate blood. Fortunately for those individuals in need, there are many donors showing up time and again to offer their gift of life.
“I’ve donated blood at least 45 different times so far,” Bishop resident Mary Scronce said. “The first time I did it was when the husband of a good friend of mine had cancer – and a number of us donated in his name. After that, I continued doing it because I just believed in its value.”
Scronce is far from alone in her pattern of repeated donation. “There have been at least a dozen or more times that I’ve donated over the years,” said Maggie Egan, another Bishop resident. “I once worked as a paramedic and I saw a lot of people needing blood, so I just decided to do it … and I learned that I’m O-negative, which is the universal donor blood-type and that meant even more people could be helped by me donating.”
Egan added, “It’s not scary and it doesn’t hurt – it feels good to be giving to others.”
Bishop resident Mike McElvogue shared Egan’s sentiment. “I’ve been giving blood for 10 years now. When I found out how easy it was, I’ve been doing it ever since – and we get free cookies!”
McKee explained that flu season has put something of a dent in the donor totals this season, and not just in Inyo County. “This drive is a bit lower than previous years primarily due to more people being hit with the flu across our entire donor region,” McKee said. “Plus we’ve had winter weather piling up snow and closing roads in eastern California and northern Nevada. It’s just created a bit of a dip in our usual activity.”
One situation that McKee noted as having been both a surprise and a boon to the blood drive happened while at the Lone Pine center.
“Last year when we were down in Lone Pine a few guys that work together at LADWP came by and donated blood,” said McKee. “This time when we were there, their supervisor, Neale Gordon, brought a crew of 25 guys from the Keeler plant and they all donated blood – and most guys did a ‘double-red-blood-cell donation’ that’s the equivalent of two regular donations for each. Thanks to those fellows, we did 74 units just on Monday.”
In fact, the support of Gordon’s LADWP team was so welcomed, that when United Blood Services is next working in Southern Inyo it plans to have a center open for a day right at the LADWP’s Keeler operation.
McKee explained that United Blood Services’ final day in the area on this trip would be spent getting blood donations at Bishop Union High School. Last year, students at BUHS donated 120 units. This year, according to McKee, the expected total will be somewhat less. “In order to donate blood, a person has to be at least 17 years or older,” McKee said, “and so that’s always going to mean the donors will come from the junior and senior classes … and from what I’ve been told, the class sizes this time are a little smaller in number than before.”
For anyone thinking they might wish to become a donor, no problem. That opportunity will come around again with the next visit from the United Blood Services team in the fall. Those dates will be available well in advance.