Donors were required to have their temperatures taken, although the blood will still be tested for COVID-19 in case anyone slips through.
By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
While workers across the country are adapting to working from home and meeting virtually, the shift from having large swaths of employees in one place to having them scattered across the state has had a deleterious effect on a surprising organization: the American Red Cross. In non-pandemic times, the Red Cross used to visit offices and get large numbers of employees to donate blood - but because of the coronavirus, the organization is dealing with a shortage.
To make up for this shortage, on Thursday from noon to five p.m., the Walpole Knights of Columbus held a blood drive, with 35 people donating. As Don Della Valle explained, they wanted to do it because they’re not just a religious organization, they’re a part of the community.
“We’re a religious organization, but we’re community-based. We give back to the community, and the need is so great right now for blood because they used to go to a lot of companies, and it’s not available now with so many people working from home. So, they need all the support they can get. They would go to office buildings where people were working, and they’d come in and give their blood, so they’re looking for spots where people could do donations. We have 35 people scheduled, because they’re doing it by appointment only. Blood is only good for 42 days, so it’s a constant need. The brothers from the KOC want to give back to the community. We’re not just religious, we’re part of Walpole, so that’s what we do.”
Thirty-five people was the maximum amount the Knights could accommodate, given the COVID restrictions with which they were dealing. While there were four beds going at any time, there were no walk-ins allowed; it was appointment only. Donors had to check in inside, where their blood pressure and temperatures were taken, then wait in their cars until a text message alerted them it was time to come in. But even if these measures failed and a COVID-positive person slipped by, Della Valle explained, the Red Cross will make sure infected blood won’t be transfused into anyone.
“Everybody has to wear a mask. They’re all six feet apart. That’s why they went to appointment only - they cant just walk in. They take your temperature and your blood pressure right at the door, they ask their questions so they make sure people aren’t active, and they do check all the blood for COVID afterwards. They monitor it, just in case something slips by.”
Della Valle said that they would likely do another blood drive, possibly in February, because blood's shelf life is only 42 days and “I’m sure the need's going to be there.” As for the Knights themselves, while they lost their big dinners and are struggling to come up with alternate fundraising sources, Dell Valle said they still have enough money to give away their Christmas quota.
“We’ve been doing most of our meetings and stuff virtually, doing a lot of Zoom stuff. Unfortunately, we can’t do much to raise money. We raise money to give it away and last year we used to do dinners - which we can’t do right now, because we can’t put eighty people in here at once - but right now we’re redeeming cans and bottles, so that gives us a decent amount of money to maintain us. We just sat down and looked at our donations for the Christmas holiday, and right now, we have enough money on hand to give the same amount we did last year, which is good. But we don’t have a lot of money coming in, so our hands are tied. But we’re trying to come up with some ideas to generate some cash for us to give away. We usually do about five or six dinners a year to raise money, and we give away eight to ten thousand dollars a year.”
While they are going to be presenting Christmas donations in the near future, on Thursday afternoon, it was some much-needed blood the Knights and their supporters were giving away.
