Face CT 8-9-26

Welcome to Face Connecticut, an in-depth look at today's issues. Hello and welcome to Face Connecticut. I'm Morgan Cunningham on WTIC News Talk 1080, light 100.5 WRCH and 965 TIC. Our guest this week on Face Connecticut is CEO of the American Red Cross, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Richard Branigan, we're going to be talking about the Red Cross's declaration of the national blood crisis, what that means for us locally, as well as what it means for the bigger picture nationally and beyond. Richard, welcome to the program. Good to have you with us. Always a pleasure, Morgan. Thank you. Let's start off by trying to understand what this crisis is all about. Because usually in the summer, we talk with the Red Cross about how summertime there's a drop usually when it comes to donations of blood. But now this is more dire that only for the second time in Red Cross history, you guys are calling it a blood crisis. What's that all about? Yes, Morgan, this is historic, as you're mentioning, second time in our history. And we've been collecting blood in Connecticut for about 75 years. So this is significant for us. And the previous time was four or five years ago on the heels of coming out of COVID. So we all understood that we kind of rode with it and people really stepped up. and the medical community was very, very responsive at that time. But it was a major challenge. We're in that challenge mode again. And it started back in May with a fall off in, in Donorship, which was early. As you were mentioning that in the summertime, we usually see a drop in donations. People get busy with vacation schedules. Schools are not in sessions or colleges or universities, big source of of donors for us during the academic years. And then people have other things going on. There's storms, there's, you know, we had some foul weather with air coming down from Canada and the air quality was impacted. So there's a lot of different variables that kick in in the summertime. And at the same time, the need for blood is constant. So in fact, during the summer months, you know, it's almost could be referred to as trauma season in local hospitals and in the medical community. So the need for blood is there. It may be ticking up over the course of the summer, but the donations are certainly down. And we reached the point recently where... especially in the O positive category, which is the most common type of blood. We were down to a one-day supply, which is why the declaration was made. So we needed to call attention to get all donors stepping up and rolling up their sleeves and helping us resolve this as they've done in the past. As far as that blood supply is concerned about how low is it?

Well, we tend not to go on a day-to-day supply, but when we only have O positive on the shelf and enough supply for one day, that means we have to constantly replenish that. And since blood is something that cannot be manufactured, it's something that comes from donors to patients and recipients. And it has a shelf life. It has a 42-day shelf life. We need to constantly replenish that supply. And we don't measure it typically in daily unless it reaches that emergency or crisis portion. Our goal is to get as many donors through the door as we possibly can and to keep that flow of blood literally going. When that blood flow slows, as we've been talking about, and now we're at this crisis level, what does that mean for the medical community? We're talking about the patients who are in need of it in emergency. Perhaps they have to go into surgery. What does that mean for the medical world, the hospitals, the doctors, when that supply of blood is this low? Yeah, that's the thing. We don't want it to go to a point where doctors are having to make those difficult choices about what surgeries can take place. Elected surgeries, when we went through a crisis like this a number of years ago now coming out of COVID, there were really tough decisions being made by doctors and medical directors working with our teams and our medical director. And we have an amazing one in Dr. Fay West. who works with local hospitals to make sure that they're getting the supply that they need. And for a time, you know, we're rationing blood supplies that go out beyond for those elective events. We hope to avoid that going forward and we think we're ready to turn that corner, but we need more people to show up so that those difficult decisions do not have to be made by local doctors and trauma centers. Richard Brandigan is our guest this week on Face Connecticut. He is the CEO of the American Red Cross, Connecticut and Rhode Island chapters. And I want to point out that you're focusing kind of on the Southern New England end of things. Are you, though, in touch with your colleagues from across the country? Are they experiencing the same thing that we are here? Or is this kind of unique to our part of the country? No, Morgan, it's not unique to us, but other areas in the country are experiencing this. You know, if you look at the news that's on and that you're reporting on the day-to-day basis, wildfires in the West, flooding in Texas, you know, tropical storms that are hitting in different places, extreme heat in other places, tornadoes, all of those things which. also impact the Red Cross as a disaster response organization. And we're deploying people to all of those locations that I mentioned. But that does interrupt the flow of blood, the donors that are able to turn out in those areas and our ability to host blood drives. The Red Cross is the largest single provider of blood in the country. We do about 40% of the nation's blood supply.

And so if it impacts us, it impacts all of those other smaller collection organizations and hospitals as well. So we're part of a national system. We are part of a community that takes care of the demand when it ebbs and flows in different parts of the country. And we work very, very well with our own system and with other complementary organizations that collect blood as well. In other words, just to reiterate that for our listeners, Richard, this blood supply issue, the shortage is nationwide, you would say, right? Absolutely, yes. And, you know, as the Red Cross, you know. tends to lead the way in a lot of this. We're seeing the same reaction from some of our other organizations that are out there collecting blood in different parts of the country. So we're all in this together. We are facing this crisis. And it's a crisis that we're trying to avoid a medical impact. So that's why we're calling attention to this. And what it comes down to Morgan is We in Connecticut are doing anywhere from 12 to 16 or 17 blood drives each and every day, seven days a week. So it is a great opportunity for people to find a blood collection drive near them, convenient to them, their work, their home, if they're traveling through, wherever they are, we make it very convenient to find a blood drive that's near to you. We have fixed sites in Greenwich, Milford. Norwich and Farmington, and we have mobile drives throughout the state each and every day, as I mentioned. So finding a drive is fairly simple. Rolling up your sleeve is a process that takes about an hour total or less. And we're looking for about three to four more people to show up at each of our blood drives every day. And we'll avert this crisis if we can do that. So it's about maximizing the drives that we're doing now. encouraging people to roll up their sleeves. And it's a selfless act, but it's not something that costs a lot of time. In fact, it doesn't cost you any money to donate blood. It's a precious gift you can give to somebody else. Let me ask you this, Richard, if someone's listening and they're saying, well, I can't give blood because of X. I'm this, I'm that, I have this, I have that. There are perhaps some stereotypes out there. Who can give blood? Is it most people? You know, it's an interesting statistic. About 60% of the population can give blood, but only 3% actually do. So, you know, if you're looking at numbers, there's a lot of people who are eligible. There's a fear factor with some. There's a medical factor with a number of people, the medications that they're on. And if people are curious as to whether they can or cannot donate or they have questions about it, they can simply go to our website. Those questions are asked by others as well. And our Red Crossblood.org website has a chat feature that you can ask those questions. And we will get you the answers that you need. We handle all of our screening for each and every donor in accordance, strict accordance with the FDA, Food and Drug Administration guidelines. So the questions that we ask, the screening to make sure that a donor is healthy on the day of the donation.

We're doing some basic tests for hemoglobin and blood pressure and things like that. And we're also keeping track for people. You know, if they want to monitor their blood pressure, for example, or, you know, four times a year, we're doing screening for A1C for pre-diabetes. So there's opportunities that we have as regular donors come through the door to help them with their medical histories, to help them with. some of the decisions that they may or may not have to make about whether they can donate but we encourage everyone to inquire and if they simply can't donate uh if there's some reason they can't they could encourage others other members of their families they can challenge their co-workers you know not everyone will be able to step up and answer this call but i i know someone you'll know someone that can go on your behalf and step in that door and go with a sense of purpose and come out with a sense of pride that they've really accomplished something great. That still is a pretty healthy number, the number of people who are statistically able to give blood. Richard Bradigan is our guest, CEO of the Red Cross for Connecticut and Rhode Island. We're talking about what has been declared only for the second time in the history of the American Red Cross, a blood crisis. This is not just the... average seasonal emergency that's declared this is a full-blown nationwide crisis on the amount of blood. Let's just take a moment. We'll continue the conversation. I have some more questions, but let's continue here for a moment, Richard, and just pause to give out information that people need, websites, phone numbers. If they're listening right now, they want to learn more about giving blood. Where do they go and what do they need to know? So they can go to red crossblood.org. It will answer a number of their questions. It will allow them to book a blood drive by their zip code near them. They can call 1-800 Red Cross and follow the prompts to talk to someone about blood collection or blood donation. They can also download the Red Cross app for blood donors. And it's really a very cool device. It's free of charge, of course, like just about all of our apps that are available online at the App Store. But it does give you the opportunity to book a donation, to track your history, to virtually have your donor card in front of you on your phone. You can use that to do your pre-screening on your way to the blood donation, not as you're driving, of course, but in the privacy of your home or office. to answer those screening questions so that when you show up, you have a QR code basically that we scan and has all of your information and you're ready to go. It expedites the process. So we make it as simple as we can. For an old organization, the Red Cross dates back to 1881. As I said, we've been collecting blood for 75 years. We are extremely modern when it comes to our devices and our systems.

that not only encourage people to donate, track histories, but the process of handling blood, that precious commodity, the precious gift that's given to us. It's an honor for us to receive it, but it's medically necessary. And we treat it with the respect that it's called for and in strict accordance with the guidelines and the regulations that we have from the Food and Drug Administration and with the Department of Public Health. As you indicated, the Red Cross is not new. This is not in the last five years that you guys just magically appeared. You've been doing this for decades over a century, really, as far as the existence of the Red Cross itself as an organization. Richard, my question to you is this, in the past when there have been challenges, and I think you alluded to this a little bit earlier on in our conversation, when there have been challenges in getting blood, what has historically worked to boost those numbers? Exactly what we're talking about today, Morgan. It's the awareness. It's encouraging people to, you know, everyone's busy in the life of the world today. It's crazy at times, right? The traffic is crazy. The news on the radio is crazy. You know, there's a lot of things going on in the world. So people can be easily distracted. Having a focus on this, having a focus in the summer and in this particular case with a crisis level that we've declared, it allows people to process this and to think about just taking a moment out of their own day. regardless of their age, regardless of their occupation, everyone is the same when it comes to blood donations. And if you're able to donate, it's a simple act of kindness that you can do for someone you don't even know. So, you know, we're making sure that we spread the word. And in Connecticut, I will tell you, you know, I've been in my role more or less with the Red Cross for more than a dozen years. And every time we go through an issue like this, the summertime, the wintertime, post holidays, people of Connecticut respond. They listen, they respond, they make appointments. Our appointments go way up. People come in and they're very supercharged to help their fellow members of the Connecticut community. Richard, as we continue to talk about the second blood crisis in Red Cross history, how it's impacting us locally and farther out, I've got a wild question for you. I've never thought of this before. I don't know what the answer is if somebody's interested in hosting a drive. Now, WTIC reaches a wide region of our listeners here in Connecticut, and they are people from all different kinds of walks of life, including... town leaders and administrators, right? I think about, for instance, the Manchester Road Race. They do their blood drive after Thanksgiving. But if someone is listening and they have the ability to host a drive, they've never done it before, maybe they're part of a larger entity, whether it's government or a business or a school, how do they learn more about partnering with the Red Cross to have one of those drives?

Oh, that's a great. I love that question, Morgan. Thank you so much. And you mentioned the Manchester Road Race coming up at Thanksgiving weekend. It's our largest single blood drive in the state. And those folks do an amazing job. And the community just steps up and does that. We also see that with groups like the Lions clubs. And we've seen it with the Elks Club. clubs throughout the state of Connecticut and the American legions and the FWs and a lot of different organizations step up hosting blood drives corporations. And it's a very simple process. It takes a while to get on to get us on the schedule. But using those same resources, the red cross blood.org or the 1-800 number 1-800 Red Cross will connect you there. You can click on the prompts. and it will take you through the opportunity queue to have someone reach out to you and talk about sponsoring a blood drive. And, you know, we've even gone to a point where we can do virtual blood drives and people can challenge each other. We've seen amazing success in sickle cell blood collection because of networking and because of folks stepping up like the like the deltas, the sororities in. fraternities and members of the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters are now stepping up in partnership. Metallica, the band Metallica is a blood drive sponsor for us and a huge proponent. They have two big concerts coming up at Bohegan's son this fall. So it takes a community, Morgan, to do it. And everybody has a part to play if they want to click on some buttons and step up and rally their colleagues to make a difference. Not only does it feel good for people, I would imagine, to give blood, they have that feeling of really being part of a larger community, but to be able to host one of those events too, to host a blood drive, that must be a completely different feeling altogether. You know, I can tell from personal experience, family members of mine are members of the Lions Club, and they host the Blood Drive. And this year, we had dozens of Lions clubs around the state hosting blood drives all throughout the state that are Lions Clubs. You know, they're embedded in the community, same as rotary clubs. And that sense of rallying the community together for a common purpose is absolutely amazing. We've also seen a number of memorial blood drives where someone may have lost a battle to cancer or had an unfortunate other illness or trauma causing sudden death or impact and the family members. step up and do memorial blood drives and the energy that is generated on on behalf of one person who's remembered and people coming in to donate on that person's behalf i've seen that time and time again where where the energy in the room is you can feel it

And it's absolutely amazing to be part of that. And it impacts all of us. It impacts the professional staff, the phlebotomists who are so highly trained and do these blood drives each and every day. They can feel the energy as well. tremendous opportunities to step up regardless of why it's being done. We will work away if we can generate the numbers, we can find the facilities that are accessible and so forth. We can make these things happen and they really make a difference in the community. Going back to a technical question here, again, people are listening to this and they're thinking, Richard, well, I want to give blood, but they have some questions. Of course, they can go to the Red Cross's website, and we'll run over that information again for everybody listening before the end of our Face Connecticut program here. But if someone's listening and they don't know what their blood type is, that's a problem, I would imagine. Is there a way for them to find out easily? Yeah, the easiest way to find out is to come and donate blood. And we will tell you what your blood type is in the process. It's, you know, a simple, simple thing to do. Otherwise, you know, they could find out through their own medical provider by having a blood test done. But if they want a simple way to do it, you know, make an appointment, come in and donate blood for the first time. If you don't know, or if you have been a blood donor and you can't remember what your blood type is, this is a way to rekindle that that understanding and your awareness. That's the easiest way, Morgan. Oh, that's very helpful. In other words, you don't have to know it before you go to give blood. You just have to show up to give blood. That makes it even easier. Absolutely. In our final moments here, Richard, and again on Face Connecticut, I'm so grateful for the American Red Cross, Connecticut, Rhode Island CEO, Richard Branigan for joining me on Face Connecticut. I'm Morgan Cunningham when we're talking about the second blood crisis in Red Cross history. When this thing is over. You know, will you guys put out any information about, you know, how it was achieved or when it was achieved, not to diminish the need for more donations after that point because there will be. But at some point, hopefully soon, this will be over. Will there be any more information on that to come? Yeah, I think we're going to be able to, in fairly short order.

help celebrate the impact that our folks here in Connecticut have had on the blood supply and helping us turn the corner, avoiding the crisis. You know, we're already seeing some increased. Donorship coming to existing blood drives. We want that to continue. As I said earlier, we want three to four more people to show up and donate at each of our blood drives. And we will solve this crisis. We'll avert it. And then we'll be in a position, you know, within very short order. And I'm hopeful that by sometime early fall, sometime in September or so, not too far away. We should be able to turn this corner. But it takes. the community stepping up now to make those appointments. And you can make an appointment through the end of September or even into October or beyond. So we need those appointments to avert the crisis. We need that commitment. And we think we'll be able to celebrate that in very soon. Wonderful, Richard. In our final minute, we're down to less than a minute. Where can people go or what number can people call to learn more about giving blood? Call 1-800 Red Cross or visit us at Red Crossblood.org. You can also download the Red Cross app, the Blood Donor app, along with our emergency apps. And, you know, We're a nonprofit organization, Morgan. We're the single largest blood collector in the country. We are humanitarian organizations. So at the same time, we're doing this. We are responding to disasters night and day, supporting our military, helping people out when they're impacted by storms and fires and so forth and supporting our international humanitarian law movement. We're part of a humanitarian organization that needs help right now, and I know the people of Connecticut will step up and do that. Richard, I really appreciate your time. We are rooting for you and we'll be in touch, okay? Thank you, Morgan. Face Connecticut is a production of the News and Public Affairs Department of WTIC Radio.