Age thins ranks of regular blood donors

By Jan TenBruggencate and Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writers

George Niino's left hand opened and closed on the rubber squeeze toy, pumping blood through the needle in his arm as he made his 107th donation at the Blood Bank of Hawai'i.

George Niino, 68, has been giving blood since the 1960s. The Blood Bank of Hawai'i says its most regular donors are in their 60s and 70s, and officials worry donations will drop as these people grow older. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Most of last year's blood donations — 70 percent — came from donors in their 30s, 40s and 50s but many of them gave only once or twice a year. Compare that to folks in Niino's generation who make up the most faithful donors — people in their 60s and 70s — who often give six times a year.

"Regular donors who come in three or four times a year — our core — are really the World War II population generation," said blood bank president Dr. Robyn Yim.

That's also the group that is leaving the ranks of blood donors because of advancing age. "It's a pretty big problem," Yim said, and one the blood bank is anxiously trying to address by attracting younger donors.

One of the key programs is in Hawai'i's high schools, where student leaders urge fellow students to donate. Statistically, it should be a good program, Yim said.

"We call them when they come back from college, and they do come. Studies on the Mainland show that if they do donate several times while in school, there is a higher likelihood they will come back when they enter the workforce," she said.

The facility also teams up with employers to try to attract people in the workforce, and meets with churches and community groups to seek further support. That's another way of getting those in that big group of occasional donors to give more often. Mobile blood collection teams go to Neighbor Islands every eight weeks as well.

The new donors are critical. The blood bank had 25,341 individual donors in 2003, but it loses 7,000 donors each year because they moved, became ill, or in some cases because they became too feeble to donate. In recent years, complicated issues like SARS and mad cow disease have either permanently or temporarily taken out of the donor force people who have traveled to certain foreign countries.

The blood bank needs to recruit at least 7,000 new donors each year to make up for the loss.

Carl Takeshita, 63, a retired educator who lives in Pearl City, became a blood donor more than 30 years ago after his wife needed a blood transfusion following childbirth.

"I felt a sense of wanting to give back," said Takeshita, who gave his 55th pint of blood Wednesday. "I knew that my wife had needed blood."

At age 24, registered nurse Stephanie Leong is on the younger side of the regular donors. She remembers going to the blood bank as a child when her dad would donate. "I decided to follow in his footsteps," she said.

When she became a high school senior, she donated for the first time. In recent years, she has donated two or three times a year. As a nurse at Kapi'olani Women's and Children's Medical Center, Leong works with babies who sometimes need the blood transfusions. "I see how it goes around," she said.

Leong believes that more people her age would donate if they see how it helps people. Right now, not too many of her friends are regular donors. "Some of them say they're afraid of needles or they're too light," she said.

The blood bank collected more than 50,000 pints for the first time in 2001, a record aided by a spike in donations following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Since then, it has been able to maintain the increased rate of donation, with 54,217 pints in 2002 and 53,970 in 2003.

All the blood in 2003 came from 25,341 individual donors. The numbers mean the average donor gives two pints a year. But half the donors —12,800 of them — donated just once during 2003. The remaining, generally older donors make up the difference.

Yim said one initiative of the blood bank is to try to persuade its one-time-annually donors to give more often.

Virtually all of the blood collected in the Islands stays here. Yim said the blood bank is able to keep up with the demand for blood in Hawai'i most of the time, although there are periods of shortage. The local population responds well when there is a shortage, although that creates other problems.

A person can safely donate blood only once every eight weeks or so. If a bunch of regular donors show up for a shortage, it means they won't be available to donate for another two months. Managing when donors come in is a balancing act.

"We have donor recruiters, and we're calling on donors every day. We need 250 donors a day," said Stephanie Rosso, blood bank director of communications.

A four to five-day supply of blood is normal at the Blood Bank of Hawai'i, and as this story is written, the supply is good, at five to seven days, Yim said. Whole blood can be stored for up to 40 days.

For more information, visit www.bbh.org or call the Blood Bank of Hawai'i at 845-9966.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.