Westchester, Explained 15: Why Westchester Needs Blood Donors

As an extension of our weekly "This Week in Westchester - The Podcast" we welcome you to Westchester, Explained. In this special long-form series we take you deeper into the headlines, decisions and policies shaping Westchester County and their impact on your family, your neighborhood and your future. Here we slow it down, dig in and bring in the people doing the work, and we explain not just what the County is doing, but why it matters.

Because government should be clear. This is your County. 

And this is Westchester, Explained. 

In this episode, we talk about donating blood, platelets and plasma in Westchester with Brian Harper of the New York Blood Center. We discuss the critical need for blood donations and why maintaining a healthy blood supply is so important for hospitals and patients across Westchester and the region. And we will also explore how donated blood supports everything from emergency trauma care and cancer treatment to routine surgeries.

We also break down the donation process, dispel common misconceptions and highlight the lifesaving impact a single donation can have.

Join us as we discuss the importance of giving blood, platelets or plasma -- and the urgent need for donors this summer, and why it matters to Westchester residents.

---

Do you have feedback or a suggestion for a future podcast topic? Please let us know by emailing communications@westchestercountyny.gov and include Podcast in the subject line.

For the latest news & updates visit the Westchester County Newsroom or follow us on social:  Instagram  |  Facebook  |  X (Twitter)  |  LinkedIn  |  YouTube

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hi Westchester. I'm Westchester County Government Communications Director Katherine Chaffee. And as an extension of This Week in Westchester, the podcast, we welcome you to Westchester Explained. In this episode, we talk about donating blood, platelets, and plasma in Westchester with the New York Blood Center's Brian Harper. We discuss the critical need for blood donations and why maintaining a healthy blood supply is so important for hospitals and patients across the county and the region. We also explore how donated blood supports everything from emergency trauma care and cancer patients to routine surgeries and why seasonal shortages can create serious challenges for healthcare providers. We also break down the donation process, dispel common misconceptions, and highlight the life-saving impact a single donation can have. Join us as we discuss the importance of giving blood, platelets, or plasma and the urgent need for blood donors this summer, and why it matters to Westchester residents. Because this is Westchester explained. So let's begin. So we're here today with Brian Harper from the Blood Center. Very specific about it. New York Blood Center is community and stakeholder relations. And you're here to talk to us about something that we hear about all the time donating blood. So first off, tell us a little bit about the New York Blood Center.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Great. Thank you so much for having me. So New York Blood Center has been a mainstay of the Tri-State area for more than 60 years. We were established in 1964. And each year we deliver more than half a million life-saving blood products to more than 200 hospitals, EMS, and healthcare partners in the Tri-State area. And so when we say blood products, that means whole blood. What does that mean? Yep. Whole blood, um, double red cells, and then platelets and plasma. So platelets are tiny cell fragments that are part of your blood and they go to treat cancer patients, for example. And then plasma often treats burn victims. What's double blood? Double red cells. So um sometimes people can um make sort of a larger volume of blood uh donation. So someone maybe a little bit bigger of a person who is able to um dispense with that. Um and so they will make just twice the amount of uh red cell donation.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Wow. I didn't know that. That's amazing. So um I think you know, we always hear about giving blood. And of course, God forbid, you're in this situation and you need blood. It's a very serious. But um, how often would you say blood is needed?

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Every day. Okay. Yeah. So blood is um is needed every day. It goes to treat uh traumatic accident victims. So if someone's in a car crash, for example, but it also is part of routine surgeries, uh, treating cancer patients. Um we need about 7,500 donations a week uh to provide for the hospitals that we serve in the area. Yep. Yeah. And so uh blood is needed every day. And one of the challenges is that blood doesn't have a very long shelf life. And so um when someone donates whole blood, uh it can be refrigerated for up to about 42 days. And so people often hear the term blood bank, but we say we're really more of a blood pipeline. As soon as it comes in and we're able to process it, it's going out to serve patients in our hospitals.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Wow. And so let's walk through the process. So I woke up to the NIA blood center and I want to donate blood. What happens?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Yeah. So first you come in and you fill out a medical questionnaire just to make sure that you're feeling healthy and well, that you're eligible to donate. Um, assuming that you are, then we have a medical screening process, and that's just taking your vitals, making sure that your iron is at an appropriate level so you can donate, checking your blood pressure, things like that. Assuming that that goes forward, then you actually do the donation process. And that is quite quick. It can be anywhere from say five or six minutes on the low end to 10, 15, maybe 20 minutes on the high end.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Still very quick, though.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Very quick. And then once you've donated, we just want to make sure that you're still feeling healthy and well, that you're not a little wobbly. And so we have a canteen area, both at our blood donor centers as well as blood drives, where you can sit, have some apple juice or cranberry juice, have some water, have some cookies, get a little sugar in you, just make sure that you're feeling healthy and well. And then after about 15 minutes, you're on your way, knowing that that single donation can save up to three lives.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Amazing. Three lives. That's a significant um amount. And does it matter your blood type is one more? Of course, we all know O is the universal donor. I don't feel like we learned that. I don't even know where we learned that, but everybody knows that. But is there one blood type that is is A better, B better, or it does it matter?

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Aaron Powell It's not it's not a question of better, it's just sort of a question of where the blood goes. So you referenced O being the universal blood type. So that's O negative. And so um the reason that is emphasized is anyone can receive blood from someone who's O negative. And so in a traumatic accident situation where there's maybe not necess not time to check what's what the recipient's blood type is, anyone can get that O negative blood. So that's why that's really important. But I'm a positive, for example. And so um I often try to donate platelets to help cancer patients. And so your blood type um just determines who can receive your blood and what the purpose for it might be. But um, we are very happy to have blood donors of all types.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Of all of them, not just O. My husband's O, actually. I think that's why I know this uh this line. But um, so from the time somebody donates, how long does it take for that blood to then actually be going to a patient?

SPEAKER_00 5:50

It can vary. Um anecdotally, um, as a regular donor, I will often in within a week or two, I will get an email saying that um thank you so much for your donation. Here is the hospital where your blood went. And so it's a pretty quick process. Um we are FDA regulated. And so the blood has to be um tested just to make sure that um, again, people are are healthy and well, that there are no um infections or situations that they might not know about um that would preclude their blood from going to someone else. But it's pretty quick within within a few weeks.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Aaron Powell So what happens if somebody donates blood and then you screen it and you find that they did in fact have an infection?

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Um so if there were any particular issue that would prevent them um from donating blood or from their blood going to someone, we would reach out to them and just to let them know. And then it's what if it's like a cold or something?

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Does that matter?

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Well, on the day of uh a donation, if someone was having a cold uh someone had a cold or was experiencing, say, flu symptoms, we would ask them to hold off on donating until they feel healthy and well again. Aaron Powell Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

So you're really screening for serious infections.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Okay. And um you know, we always hear about, which is actually the reason that you ended up here today, is the summer blood emergency. So what happens in the summer?

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Yeah. So um blood emergencies um are something that can come about uh during the winter months and the summer months. Um and so in the case of the summer months, we typically see uh, you know, schools are on break, people are on vacation. And so that means less people are donating blood. Um the challenge, though, is that just at that same time, there is an increased demand for blood. Um, there are often more traumatic accidents because people are out traveling. Uh, Fourth of July weekend, that can often be a tough time for hospitals. For sure. And so there's an increase in demand and a decrease in supply. And so when the supply gets down to a critically low level, and in the case of the emergency that we're currently experiencing in New York, it got down to less than a two-day supply. And so we had 4,500 fewer donations than we needed to adequately supply our hospitals. And uh, for context, a seven-day supply would be considered a healthy amount.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

And so um, it's something that um we we try to anticipate as best we can. And then um hospitals are making decisions about, you know, making sure that the most urgent needs are being met. But obviously, even for routine surgeries and other situations where someone needs blood, we don't want anybody to go without.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

So what happens? You know, you you get to this critically low mass, this emergency level. What do the hospitals then do? They do do they postpone surgeries? I mean, obviously you can't postpone a traumatic incident. Right. But do they postpone other things?

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Um You know, there's a number of ways that we can uh address that. And um I I I personally can't really um speak to you know how hospitals go about making um making situations or doctors go about making situations.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

But um, but generally speaking.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

But generally speaking, yeah, I mean I think that if there is not enough blood to go around, that means that they have to focus on the most urgent needs and then um you know make make difficult decisions. And so in in announcing a blood emergency, we're communicating to the public, communicating to our partners that we do not have enough blood to go around. So please, if you are healthy, if you are eligible, please come in to donate blood. Um, and fortunately, uh, in the case of this current emergency, we saw a great response in the community. But as we were saying before, um, the need is constant. And so, um, you know, you can have a few really good days where people are coming in to donate blood, but it needs to be continuous. And um, you know, there's a lot of exciting things going on in New York right now, obviously, with the Knicks on their run, with the World Cup coming. And so those are the kinds of things that we're looking to anticipate further shortages, where again, people might hang out and about, um, donating blood might not be front of mind. And so um we just really need to keep a constant stream of donors coming to blood drives and coming to donor centers to to ensure that uh we're getting the blood that we need in our hospitals.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

And and you were explaining this um last time I chatted that there's no substitute for blood.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

So can you expand on that a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Yeah. And so um, you know, I think people often forget that um blood cannot be made in a lab. It really does come from individuals like you and me. It needs to come from us to go to people in need. And so uh we we rely on volunteer donors. There's no there's no synthetic form of blood. It it comes it comes from people.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

I think people sometimes would assume that they think there have been so many medical advances, like this must be one of them, and it's not happened. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. And would you say, you know, who relies the most on blood donations? Is it trauma, is it cancer patients, is it children? Who who uh out of the three, or if is there somebody else, who is it?

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Aaron Ross Powell 25 percent of blood goes to cancer patients. So um cancer patients make up a a huge portion of um uh blood recipients. And so that that's substantial. And then um, I'm not exactly sure what the breakdown is among um some of the other situations.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Well we know number one is cancer patients.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Aaron Powell Cancer is 25 percent. I I do I can say that.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yeah. Um and and overall, when it comes to blood donations and giving blood, what would you say is the biggest misconception people have when they walk through the door?

SPEAKER_00 11:41

I think that's um it's not so much a misconception. I think that um there is um maybe just some built-in fear, which is understandable.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Um the needles, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Exactly. And I think that um, you know, we we want to be very uh mindful and respectful of that fear. But I think uh the upside far away is the downside. Uh personally, I I don't love being stuck with the needle either, but it is um relatively minor discomfort. And the upside, again, is that uh you can save up to three lives. And in in the work that my colleagues and I do, we regularly, regularly get to meet uh people whose lives have been changed and in some cases saved by blood donations.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Well, that's what I wanted to ask. Can you tell us some of those stories?

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Absolutely. So um a few months ago, we opened a new donor center in the Bronx, our first one in uh Throg's neck. And um, at the opening, uh, the mother of a young woman spoke, and her daughter had been waiting for a bus some some years ago and was hit by a drunk driver. And um her it was really touch and go um for for several hours there, where um it was not looking like she was gonna make it. But the doctors kept uh giving her more and more blood that came from volunteer donors who who didn't know her, didn't know where that blood was gonna go. And um thank God she she survived and she uh was okay. And now she's she's married. She's pursuing her own career in healthcare, trying to help other people in need. Um, and so hearing her mother speak all these years later, you the the fear of that moment was palpable. And her gratitude to the volunteers, again, strangers who had just stepped up to to donate blood, maybe at a blood drive at their place of worship or their workplace. Um their decision to donate blood saved her daughter's life.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Right. It's you know, it's interesting because um, and I guess I never really thought about it, but of course it's true. You you don't know who you're saving. You don't know where your blood is going. And it's the most selfless thing you can do. It's really beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Absolutely. Yeah. I think that it's it's so easy to forget um, too, just how um you know how fragile life is and how it really could be any of us. Uh, you know, it your life can change in a moment. And so I think we often uh we we kind of see it as a uh as good karma or paying it forward and trying to, you know, help help a stranger in need because you never know when that's gonna be your situation.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

And and how often can somebody donate blood?

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Every 56 days. So every eight weeks, um, you can donate whole blood. And then uh the timeline varies if you're donating some of the other blood products that we we discussed. So um playlets you can donate every seven days up to twice a month.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Um, plasma every 28 days, and then um double red cell donations every um, I believe it's 112 days.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Okay. And what are what is the process for donating plasma and donating the others?

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Yeah. So there is a um there's a process called aphoresis, and what that does is your blood is drawn out of you as if though you were making a whole blood um donation, and then the component parts are separated. And so, for example, if you're donating platelets, the platelets are separated out, and then the rest of your blood is returned to you. Um, and so that's why you're able to donate platelets more frequently. Your platelet count in your body recovers more quickly. And so um you're able to do it again seven days later. Um and so And how long does that take? Platelet donations take a while. They take uh about two hours.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Okay. So like read a book.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Yeah, exactly. I have I have occasionally dozed off when you've donated input.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

And what about for the other um plasma?

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Um plasma, I believe that is uh about 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Okay. So again, another relaxing little 45 minutes. And whole blood is the same as I'm sorry, double red is the same as doing whole?

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Double red is a little bit longer. Um I don't know the exact note. I've I've actually myself not done double red. I usually do either whole blood or um or platelets.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Aaron Powell And is one, is it uh whole blood, of course, is always needed. Platelets versus plasma is one in greater demand.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Um I think just because platelets have such a short shelf life of um we platelets are stored at room temperature for uh about five days. Aaron Powell Oh, wow. So platelet. So platelets are just a little bit more um, I I use the reference to a pipeline earlier, and that's kind of the situation with platelets.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Aaron Powell And that's interesting, they have to be stored at room temperature.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Aaron Powell Correct, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

And what temperature does whole blood have to be stored at?

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Um whole blood can be refrigerated. Okay. Um and then plasma can be frozen for up to a year. So plasma uh it's not it's not trying trying to distinguish between um like what what is better or more important.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

It's just sort of how they're stored is interested. Yeah, no, it's just it's it's interesting that could be frozen and others can't. And I won't ask you to explain the science because I won't ask you to explain that one. Um but that's that's really interesting. And so the hospitals that the New York Blood Center is supplying blood for, are they just in Westchester? Where are they?

SPEAKER_00 17:07

They're throughout the tri-state area. Okay. Yep. And so we supply to hospitals New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and then um New York Blood Center is actually part of an enterprise, appropriately named New York Blood Center Enterprises. So we have other divisions uh located throughout the country, um, in Rhode Island, Delaware, Twin Cities, Nebraska, um Missouri, Kansas. So we're in um about 16 states. And so in each of those divisions, then they supply to hospitals in their respective regions as well.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Okay. And if somebody's listening to this and they've never donated blood before, what would you say to them? How would you encourage them to give you a call?

SPEAKER_00 17:48

So um if if there's any reticence, I again completely understand it, but it really is um a quick, uh relatively pain-free process. Um and you you have no idea the difference that you can make in somebody's life. Uh again, uh my colleagues and I, we regularly get to meet people who the reason they were there to, you know, walk their daughter down the aisle or to um, you know, a child who was able to beat cancer and go back to school and play sports and be with their friends is because of blood donors. And so um the minor discomfort of donating blood or the minor um, you know, taking an hour out of your schedule once every couple of months uh can truly make all the difference in somebody else's life. And so if you have any interest whatsoever, please, please, please visit nybc.org. You can find a donor center or a blood drive near you. And um, your decision to donate blood uh makes makes all the difference in somebody's life.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Let's say that website one more time. So if people want to find out more and donate, where do they go?

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Yep, it's NYBC, so New York Blood Center, NYBC.org.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Is there a phone number as well?

SPEAKER_00 19:10

There is. Uh there's an 800 number listed on the website. I don't know the number off of the phone.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

It's okay. Um and also on the website, if people's if somebody wants to organize a blood drive for their company or their school, the all that information, I assume, is there.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Absolutely. Yep. There's a page on the site. I think it just says host a blood drive. And so you can contact our team and we can walk you through the process. Um, we we really do all the heavy lifting. We bring all the equipment, we bring the staff. In hosting a blood drive, what you're doing to partner with us is uh providing the space and then um getting the word out to the people in your network who would come in to donate.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Okay, terrific. And and the summer just started, so we got about many weeks to go to ensure that the blood count stays up.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Yep. And so before you go on vacation, before you um, you know, if you're lucky enough to have tickets to a World Cup match, um do your do your active service for the community, go donate blood. And um we we're just so grateful for anyone who does.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Yeah, that's good karma.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Exactly. It is good, it's it's the best karma.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Yeah. Anything else you want to share with us?

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Um we just want to thank all of the volunteer blood donors who do contribute um to our work. Uh again, your your life-saving gift is is remarkable. We're so thankful for all that you do. Um, to all the people who partner with us, uh, the Westchester County government has been such a wonderful partner in getting out the word whenever there's uh a blood shortage. Um we're so grateful to them. And to anyone who's thought about donating blood, but maybe hasn't before. Uh, we would love to have you as part of our community. So please, again, visit nybc.org. Um, find a blood drive or a blood donor center near you.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Okay, terrific. Well, thank you so much for being with us today. And everyone who's listening, go to the website, sign up to give blood. Thank you very much.