Hispanic donors targeted by drive in Camden

Blood drive in Camden caters to Hispanic donors
By DEBORAH HIRSCH • Courier-Post Staff • February 27, 2009

Blood donors and their families crowded the lobby of a Hispanic Family Center of Southern New Jersey building Thursday morning, waiting for their turn to be called to the Red Cross bus parked outside.

Twenty-one people turned out for the nonprofit's first community blood drive.

Ivette Cruz, manager of the group's Family Success Center in East Camden, said she organized the event three weeks ago after hearing that the Red Cross was trying to make up for drives that had been canceled due to winter snowstorms.

Cruz said it's especially important to encourage Hispanics to give blood because they are more likely to have the "universal" Type O blood which is commonly used for trauma and transfusions.

The Penn-Jersey Region American Red Cross, which covers southeast Pennsylvania and all of New Jersey, also is interested in "diversifying" the blood supply "so that no matter what the person's background is, we have a healthy supply," said spokesman Anthony Tornetta. Sometimes the chance of a reaction can be reduced if a blood donor and recipient share the same racial or ethnic background, he said.

Two Hispanic Family Center employees -- outreach worker Zoraida Matos, 52, and mental health clinic office manager Liz Maldonado, 27 -- were among the first to board the bus.

Matos said she came because she heard that donations were down, and she remembered when her daughter needed four pints of blood while delivering premature twins.

Maldonado said she came because she was passionate about helping others.

"Especially in this time now with this economic crisis where I can't really donate money, this is something that I can donate," Maldonado said.

Maple Shade resident Sean Duggan, 29, was one of the few non-Hispanics at the drive. He's a regular, donating blood about six times a year, the most he could fit in with mandatory waiting periods. "I try my best," he said, smiling.

In the lobby, Edwin Figueroa, 32, waited for his name to be called. He said he donated blood once before about eight years ago in Puerto Rico for his wife's mother, who was having an operation for lung cancer.

"I know that one day I'll need it or one of my kids," he said.

The blood collected Thursday will be sent to the Red Cross office in Philadelphia for testing before being distributed to about 100 hospitals in the region. Tornetta said the organization needs to collect about 1,500 units of blood every day just to meet the basic needs of those hospitals.

Tornetta said the turnout was great for a first-time event. The Red Cross has held 334 mobile blood drives throughout the county in the past year, he said.

"Events for us are great to get in to the community and show the younger people that it's a clean, safe experience."

Reach Deborah Hirsch at (856) 486-2476 or dhirsch@camden.gannett.com