The Red Cross sponsors blood collection activities among the Hispanic community, which only contributes with 3 percent of the blood that is necessary in order to save lives, partly due to the myths that exist with regard to blood donations

The assistance requested from sponsors, which may be companies, churches, military bases, schools and college centers, consists in providing an appropriate space, helping recruit donors, advertising the campaign and programming donor appointments, said Mariana de Maio, in charge of regional community relations.

She specified that the Red Cross provides the promotional material, snack, business cards, qualified staff and voluntaries

It also participates in educating groups of individuals, potential donors, on the importance of donating blood, and collaborating in the logistics of the twelve weeks of preparation for book collections.

The Red Cross, for example, analyzes how many real donors exist and how many need appointments need to be ensured in order to ensure such real donors.

“Eighty percent (80%) of the blood comes from blood collections performed throughout the city, and only 20 percent comes from fixed points covering all New Jersey and five points in Pennsylvania”, stated De Maio. 

“Only 3 percent of Hispanics that are eligible donors donate and it is very important for Hispanics to vote since 54 percent are O type blood, known as the universal blood type, which is compatible with other blood types”, said De Maio.

“In other words, in the event of an emergency, if there is no time to investigate your blood type or if your blood type is not available, then you are administered O positive or negative blood”, she explained.

According to Maio, the lack of donors is due to some myths existing in the community as well as lack of information.

“Our community is very generous and united but we need to put an end to the myths such as that stating that you can be infected with AIDS if you donate or that you can’t donate if you have diabetes. This Hispanic community believes that you gain wait if you donate blood, while the Asian community believes you lose weight when, in truth, none of such theories are correct”, she said.

“At times it is common among Latinos to donate blood for a family member or a friend, but the tradition of being an anonymous voluntary donor for whoever may need it, is lacking among Latinos”, De Maio added.

“Giving blood is giving life and till now we have had a good response from companies and organizations that did not know that this could be done”.

“A person can donate blood every two months, the process takes from 45 minutes to one hour (…) The donor must rest from 15 to 20 minutes after donating, drinking liquids and eating a small snack”, De Maio continued.

For more information, visit www.pleasegiveblood.org, where you’ll find information in Spanish, or call 215 451 4991.