The Septemer 11th attack
Blood bank dilemma

• Longtime worker recalls other busy times in blood bank's history

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

Noella Monteiro, left, takes a blood sample from Lisa Vitale of Hickam Air Force Base, one of many Hawai'i donors who flocked to the Blood Bank of Hawaiëi after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The blood bank exceeded its daily goal for six days after the attacks. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

A blood supply large enough to meet all Hawai'i's needs, plus a surplus to assist those in need elsewhere.

This unusual circumstance was brought about by the explosive events of Sept. 11. Almost immediately after hijacked airplanes slammed into and brought down the World Trade Center and a large chunk of the Pentagon, East Coast rescue workers issued an urgent call to blood banks across the nation.

Residents of Hawai'i responded by generously opening their veins.

"Otherwise feeling helpless, this seems like least I can do to help," said accounting professor Jim Waddington, who showed up at the downtown blood bank on the morning of the attack and signed his name to an ever-growing waiting list.

Local blood bank workers, accustomed to taking in around 150 pints a day — 50 pints shy of their daily goal of 200 — were moved by an overwhelming outpouring that brought in an average of 312 pints a day in the six days after the attack.

But there were noticeable ironies.

One was the disturbing and ugly reality that most victims of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington had died. Rescue workers on the scene, who initially feared legions of wounded would be in dire need of blood, found relatively few to help among those buried beneath millions of tons of rubble.

For this reason, not one pint of Hawai'i blood actually went to help terrorist attack victims. Blood bank workers say they stand ready to ship out the surplus the minute it might be called for.

They also are sensitive to the fact that recent donors might be disappointed to hear this news, or feel that they wasted their time. On the contrary, they insist. The blood is vital and necessary — right here.

From the outset, the blood bank said that any additional blood would be available for attack victims. At the same time, it never lost sight of its primary mission, which is to stock enough plasma, platelets and red blood cells for the needs of Hawai'i.

That leads to a second irony. While blood bank officials here are delighted to finally have an adequate supply, they still have some concerns.

Stephanie Rosso, director of communications, summed it up in six words.

"Blood has a maximum shelf life."

That life is 42 days, which means blood collected on Sept. 11 will be useless after Oct. 23. And traditionally, with everyone busy with holiday preparations, October through January is the worst time of the year for donations.

However, blood can be frozen and kept for years for some purposes, said Robyn Yim, blood bank president, who says additional freezers have been ordered to accommodate temporary extra supplies.

But that doesn't eliminate the fact that, for reasons that may be cultural, Hawai'i's blood donor count is consistently among the nation's lowest: a mere two percent of the population gives blood here, compared to an average of five percent in other states.

And whenever an event causes blood supplies to surge, as they have here in recent days, supplies inevitably plunge again within weeks because the public assumes the bank is maintaining the surplus or that it's too late to give.

Meanwhile, local emergency, surgical, maternity and cancer wards need a steady supply of blood for patients. Yim and Rosso know that, very likely, demand will again outstrip supply.

Eight days after the attacks, for instance, the blood bank was struggling to meet its 200-pint-a-day goal. By day's end, it had missed the mark by 39 pints.

"We're already back to our normal levels," Rosso said on Wednesday.

What the bank needs is a lot more people like Skyler Ross, 17, of Pearl City, who showed up at the Dillingham blood bank early this week with his dad, Carswell Ross, 55. Both donated blood to help out — and this was their second trip in recent weeks. The fact that their appointment fell during the terrorism crisis was merely a coincidence. And, the two say they'll continue to come back every eight weeks, the minimum wait time between donations.

This is encouraging news to Yim, who says the state's largest group of blood donors is World War II veterans. Those donors got in the habit of giving blood more than half a century ago in response to another national crisis.

But as their numbers dwindled over time, they were not replaced with an equal contingent of younger, regular donors. Yim hopes a silver lining to the tragedy of Sept. 11 may be that it inspires new donors to come in — not once, but over and over again.

"What we need is a steady flow of more donors," said Rosso.

Marine biologist Alan Everson, 47, got the message. He showed up at the blood bank for the first time ever on Tuesday.

"I plan on becoming a regular donor," Everson said. "I plan to do this every time I can. I've been wanting to give blood for awhile, actually.

"The events of Sept. 11 just gave me some incentive."