Tags Posts tagged with "American Red Cross"

American Red Cross

PJS/Terryville Civic Association vice president Ed Garboski gives blood to the NYBC donor center at 1010 Route 112. Photo from Garboski

As national nonprofits and local hospitals are encouraging residents to donate blood as the coronavirus crisis has not only strained health care facilities but also caused a depletion of the region’s blood supply. 

The American Red Cross said they are facing a severe blood shortage due to an unprecedented number of blood drive cancellations in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Nearly 2,700 Red Cross blood drives have been canceled, and in the eastern New York region 23 blood drives have been canceled. 

In total, cancellations have resulted in 86,000 fewer blood donations. More than 80 percent of the blood the Red Cross collects comes from blood drives, according to the organization. 

The shortage has prompted concerns about how hospitals will treat medical emergencies. According to the Red Cross, a single blood donation can be used to save multiple lives and about one in seven hospital admissions requires a blood transfusion. 

“Unfortunately, when people stop donating blood, it forces doctors to make hard choices about patient care, which is why we need those who are healthy and well to roll up a sleeve and give the gift of life.” said Chris Hrouda, president of Red Cross Biomedical Services, in a statement. 

Similarly, The New York Blood Center is urging healthy donors to donate. In addition, they are extending open hours at their donor centers. NYBC operates 19 donor centers across New York and New Jersey. Its Port Jefferson Station Donor Center, located at 1010 Route 112, works closely with St. Charles Hospital. 

NYBC officials said these steps have maintained the blood supply for now but stressed that blood is perishable and the supply must be continually replenished to avoid a shortage. 

NYBC said they are taking extra precautions to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and advise people who are experiencing a cold, sore throat, respiratory infection or flu-like symptoms to avoid donor centers. 

Stony Brook University Hospital is currently accepting blood donations as well. 

Hospital officials said they are constantly monitoring the blood supply situation at its facilities and assured residents that donating blood is safe. Donors are health screened at the hospital entrance, and the donor room is not crowded. The screening process includes completing a form regarding recent travel history and potential acute respiratory symptoms and COVID-19 exposure.

The hospital is accepting blood donations from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. People can call 631-444-2626 to make an appointment.

Lt. Katherine Biggs aboard Comfort, a U.S. Navy hospital ship administering aide to Puerto Rico. Photo by Stephane Belcher

A Naval emergency medicine physician from Port Jefferson Station is trying to provide comfort while aboard a ship named for it in Puerto Rico.

Hurricane Maria made landfall in September as a historic Category 5 storm, devastating Puerto Rico with sustained gusts nearing 200 mph. When Lt. Katherine Biggs, a resident at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Virginia currently receiving training in military-specific medicine, was offered the chance to travel to the storm-ravaged island, the 2006 Comsewogue High School graduate said it was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

Lt. Katherine Biggs and other sailors aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort treat a patient from Centro Medico in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Photo by Stephane Belcher

Biggs is one of five from the residency program aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship Comfort, which reached Puerto Rico Oct. 3 and does not have a scheduled return date, working on the boat’s casualty receiving area administering medical aide to those affected. Catastrophic flooding, damaged infrastructure and a lack of supplies, drinking water and electricity have created a dangerous situation for most Puerto Ricans trying to restore their regular routine.

“We’ll be here as long as directed and as long as needed,” Biggs said in a phone interview from Puerto Rico. “I’ll stay here as long as they’ll let me.”

She called the trip thus far a great learning experience, and said it’s been a change of pace helping people with severe respiratory and heart issues, for example, because she’s used to providing medical attention to those with traumatic, combat-related injuries. Biggs has treated some with broken bones, but said many of the patients she has been tasked with treating are people with chronic issues that are flaring up because they’ve been unable to take their prescribed medicines for various reasons.

The lieutenant said she knew when she was in ninth or tenth grade at Comsewogue that she wanted to pursue a career in medicine as a way to help people in need. After four years at Binghampton University as an undergraduate, she moved on to medical school at New York Institute of Technology in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, graduating in 2015. Biggs said she was able to afford the schooling thanks to the Health Professions Scholarship Program, a financial assistance offering from the U.S. military, which she heard about from a neighbor. She is in the third year of her residency in Portsmouth, and it is a rarity for residents to be asked to go on a trip like the one she’s on now, according to residency program director Commander John Devlin.

“This opportunity may be tough in the sense of the people struggling, but it is allowing my daughter to do what she was meant to do — help people in need.”

— Laurie Biggs

“I say it’s win-win,” Devlin said in a statement. “The people of Puerto Rico are getting more emergency medicine physician manpower than they would have had, had we gone with the original plan. And from the resident standpoint and the Navy’s standpoint, we are getting five junior physicians that, for their entire career, will have this experience base to carry forward to apply to missions in the future.”

With the help of the “Sea Knights” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron, Biggs and the other residents have been able to personally assist in medical evacuation missions around the island to return people to the ship for treatment via helicopter.

“When I heard about Katie’s plans to head to Puerto Rico I was incredibly proud,” Biggs’ mother Laurie said in an email. “I remember reminding her that this is why she joined the Navy and wanted to become a doctor. This opportunity may be tough in the sense of the people struggling, but it is allowing my daughter to do what she was meant to do — help people in need.”

Biggs’ mother added she knew from an early age her daughter, who is the oldest of four, was a caring and helpful person, ever aware of helping the less fortunate.

“To us she will always just be Katie, the daughter and older sister that is always there when you need her,” she said.

Biggs said her biggest takeaway from the mission thus far has been the dedication of responders on the ground to do whatever it takes to help both individuals and the island as a whole return to normalcy. To contribute to the relief effort, visit the American Red Cross website at www.redcross.org/donate.

Councilwoman Tracey Edwards, at center, announces the town’s partnership with two organizations to aid Puerto Rico. Photo from Town of Huntington

Huntington town officials have set up two partnerships to make it easier for local residents to send donations and supplies to Puerto Rico.

Councilwoman Tracey Edwards (D) announced Oct. 3. that the town will be working in collaboration with both the American Red Cross’ Hurricane Maria relief effort and Long Island Hispanic Business Roundtable, Inc. in Oyster Bay in an effort to get much-needed funds and specific supplies to the victims.

“We are a giving community,” Edwards said. “We have always responded, and I am absolutely confident that the people in our community will respond to support people who critically need these supplies to survive. We are asking all Town of Huntington residents, both businesses and our community members, to help.”

Edwards said the town will accept donations of specific, needed supplies at the Huntington Opportunity Resource Center, at 1264 New York Avenue in Huntington Station. Requested donations include
water, batteries, flashlights, portable lanterns, diapers, baby wipes and feminine products. Supplies can be dropped off from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, or after hours donations can be made by scheduling an
appointment with Edwards’ office at 631-351-3175.

Edwin Perez, of Long Island Hispanic Business Roundtable, is also helping the town with working out the specifics of transporting all donations. Perez reached out to Liberty Moving and Storage in Commack, who has agreed to pick up items collected at the resource center and deliver them to a central facility in Hauppauge, overseen by the New York National Guard as part of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) New York Stands with Puerto Rico initiative.

“People have reached out and asked if I was going to do anything for my American homeland,” Perez said. “I was able to reach out to my network and say, ‘Huntington is standing with Puerto Rico.’”

The Red Cross is reporting that there are nearly 400 volunteers in Puerto Rico who are helping to reconnect families and distribute relief supplies, including food and water. International Red Cross workers are also
restoring electrical connections and installing satellites to help Puerto Ricans get in touch with family members and access vital information.

“There people really need a lot of things,” said Rosa Moya, representing Latinos Unidos de Huntington. “People are panicked. They are getting frustrated. If we can do something for them, it will be very appreciated. This is the time we need to step up for Puerto Rico.”

In coordination with government and nonprofit partners, the Red Cross is helping to distribute water, ready-to-eat meals, fresh fruit and vegetables, tarps and comfort kits. Emergency distribution of water has been provided to several vulnerable communities which were running out of water. The Red Cross has already mobilized more than 250 tractor-trailer loads of relief supplies to help aid Puerto Rico. Red Cross teams are also assessing what the community needs, and providing health and mental health services.

To make a monetary donation to the Red Cross, residents can visit the town’s website, www.huntingtonny.gov, and click on the  red heart at the top of the home page. The link will lead to a microsite on the Red Cross web page, where by following the prompts residents can choose from a drop-down menu how they want their donations to be used. The default setting will send money to Hurricane Maria victims, but money can also be marked for victims of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.