Blood Drive Seeks to Relieve Emergency Shortage

Jeremy Smuckler has been on the giving and receiving end of the needle.

After a devastating ski accident landed him in the emergency room with massive blood loss, the 24-year-old from Plainview learned the necessity of blood donations.

“I needed O Negative blood, which was hard to find," Smuckler said. "But somebody was able to donate their blood to me."

Three years later after a fortunate full recovery, Smuckler has tried to donate blood every two months with high hopes of somehow returning the favor.

“I felt like it was very important for me to give back  to somebody who’s in a similar situation that needs blood," Smuckler said. 

Like Smuckler, about 65 volunteers signed up to contribute during Wednesday’s blood drive at  - a big help especially after a particularly grueling winter triggered a huge shortage of blood in Long Island hospitals.

In fact, the shortage was so high, an emergency shortage was declared.

“This winter was very, very rough because of all the days that we’ve missed from the snowstorms,” said Gerri DelColle, donator specialist of the Long Island Blood Services. “When you lose days, you lose hundreds of pints.”

For every one person who donates up to a pint of blood, three to four people are saved. But it requires approximately eight to nine hundred pints of blood a day to service all area hospitals on Long Island, DelColle said.

“We’re catching up, but we’re not ahead,” she said.

On Wednesday, 10-year-old Brian Bertrand was quick to help pass out forms and information.

“It’s important to donate blood,” said Bertrand, who added that he wants to be a neurosurgeon when he grows up. “There’s no substitute for it and we can’t run without it.”

South Grove's PTA hosts a blood drive once a year and usually in February. Last year’s drive brought in about 50 pints of donated blood.

“You never know. Anybody could need blood—an accident victim, a child, an older person, a person that’s chronically ill,” said Brian’s mother, Lynn Bertrand, who is the co-chair of South Grove’s PTA Blood Drive Committee. “At any moment, somebody could need blood.”

Volunteer donors were given mini-physicals to see if they were healthy enough before being pricked. These physicals tested for proper iron levels, temperature, blood pressure, and pulse.

The actual donating process can take between five to twenty minutes, DelColle said. 

This process is nothing new to Syosset’s Roger Ting, 39, who donated to help others and set an example for his three children.

“I was just telling my son why I’m doing this,” Ting said. “I told him that people need blood and if people don’t donate, then they won’t have any, or they won’t have enough.”

The blood drive lured in Long Island travelers from as far as Yaphank.

It’s true that Janet Meckley was asked by her granddaughter to come donate, but the Yaphank grandmother used to donate two to three times a year for the majority of 25 years.

“The need for it is critical and the emergency shortage is scary,” Meckley said. “Every time I donate, it makes me feel good.”

Rob Rosenbaum, 23, from East Williston, shares the same sentiment.

“I haven’t donated blood in a year and a half. I feel like I’m overdue,” Rosenbaum said. “It’s just a good thing to do. Why not? I’m not scared of needles.”

Wednesday’s donated blood went towards all Long Island hospitals, in both Nassau and Suffolk counties. To donate, you must be between 16 to 76 years of age, weigh over 110, and be in good health.

For more information, please visit www.nybloodcenter.org.