FORT CAMPBELL, KY – Blanchfield Army Community Hospital will host an American Red Cross Blood Drive, Friday, Sept. 16 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Soldier and Family Assistance Center located on post at the corner of Indiana Ave. and 20th St.
American Red Cross officials have designated this drive as a Sickle Cell Event and seek to recruit more Black and African American blood donors whose blood may be the only match for patients suffering from the red blood cell disorder.
“With patients suffering from sickle cell blood disease, they sometimes need to get blood transfusions every month and after several times, if it is not ethnically matched their body will start rejecting the blood. So, we have to make sure we have the ethnically matched blood on the shelves for those patients who present to the ER in a crisis,” said Scarlett James, Sickle Cell Account Manager for the American Red Cross for Tennessee and Kentucky, adding that approximately 90% of sickle cell disease patients in the U.S. are Black or African American.
James explained that sickle cell is an inherited disease that causes extreme pain when red blood cells become hard and crescent-shaped. As a result it is difficult for blood carrying oxygen to flow smoothly to the rest of the body, which may result in severe pain, stroke, and organ damage.
“I had someone with sickle cell tell me the pain was so severe that you would pray to die and I never wanted to believe that was true, but when I had my first crisis it was very true and just the worst pain imaginable,” said Lydia Langford, a sickle cell survivor who shared her experience through the American Red Cross. Langford has already received 600 blood transfusions and depends on them in order to live.
“It’s a monthly thing for me…And when that blood is not there and you’re told, ‘well Lydia, you have to wait for a donor or a match and we can’t find one,’ anxious doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling,” Langford shared in a public service announcement for the American Red Cross.
One blood transfusion for sickle cell patients like Langford may use as many as 12 units of blood – 12 whole blood donations. And because blood is perishable, organizations like the American Red Cross must continually replenish supply.
Potential blood donors must be age 17 years and older, in good health and feeling well, and weigh at least 110 pounds.
Organizers request donors visit the website redcrossblood.org and enter zip code 42223, for Fort Campbell, in the “Find a Blood Drive” field to locate and sign-up for this event, which lists Soldier and Family Assistance Center as the location. Pre-registering will help donors avoid long wait times to donate blood the day of the event.
According to the redcross.blood.org website, there are more than 200 donor appointments that still need to be filled for this event on post. The American Red Cross is one of two entities that supplies the hospital with blood and blood products.
To learn more, visit redcrossblood.org.