Kearney – There always is a critical need for blood donations, but that need skyrockets when a crisis means fewer people are available and able to donate. Such situations usually involve localized natural disasters. Now, it’s a nationwide pandemic.

One problem is that large gathering places used for routine Red Cross visits or special blood drives are closed because of COVID-19 safety concerns, said phlebotomist Sean Zoucha, who was part of a three-person team from North Platte working on a recent regular collection day at the Kearney donation center.

Another, he added, is that “many places are in lockdown” as virus hot spots, including much or all of New York, New Jersey, California and Louisiana. The North Platte office serves communities throughout the western half of Nebraska and into Colorado, team leader Jenny Diaz said, but Colorado is shut down now for blood donations.

“In the states like Nebraska that aren’t shut down, people are showing up,” Zoucha told the Kearney Hub.

Veteran donors won’t notice much difference in the process to give blood now, other than it takes longer than usual to ensure that social distance and other safety measures are followed.

With no volunteers allowed to help, the phlebotomist team must do every job from the time donors step in the door to when they leave. On April 6, check-in was in the foyer of the northwest Kearney center, where chairs were spaced several feet apart and a sign served as a first checklist for donor eligibility. Instead of going directly into the donation room, donors were escorted from the foyer to the room one by one.

Each donor’s temperature was taken in the foyer and again as part of the routine health check by a phlebotomist that includes blood pressure, pulse and iron levels. Donors must complete a questionnaire about general health, medications, travel and personal behaviors at check-in or online in advance through Rapid Pass.

Zoucha and Diaz said the safety of donors is their primary focus.

“That means clean, clean, clean,” Zoucha added.

Disinfecting wipes are used on everything one donor has touched – chair, desk, blood pressure cuff, laptop, the donation bed – before those things are used by the next donor. “We’re doing everything we can to make it as safe as possible,” Zoucha said.

The constant need for blood means it’s important to donate, she said.  The extra time and safety measures now involved in donating blood because of the pandemic weren’t a concern for two veteran blood donors.

Ron Bock of Ravenna has been a donor for 20 years. He said he gives “double reds” every eight weeks because his O negative type – the universal donor – always is in demand and he can provide two units of red cells at a time, so he is helping two recipients on each donation day.

Cindy Casper of Kearney gave her 52nd unit of whole blood. She said it was unusual to come to the donation center. Her routine is to alternate between donation days at her workplace, The Buckle, and at Kearney Catholic High School.

Casper said she first gave blood as a teenager while working at the swimming pool in Kimball. Pool workers get an extra 15-minute break if they donate blood. “It feels like the right thing, one thing I can easily do to help, I guess,” she said about why she has continued as a blood donor.

When asked if the process is a big deal, Casper replied, “It’s not hard to give blood, so why not?”

This story first appeared in the Kearney Hub. It was distributed as a member exchange story by The Associated Press.