Holding a small gold-colored pin shaped like a drop of blood, Ken Lader admires the token given to those who, pint-by-pint, have donated 10 gallons of blood.
“I’m close,” Lader said, handing the pin back to a medical assistant. “I’m at 75 pints today, five more to get to this.”
Lader, who manages engineering and design for Clark County Public Works, was one of about 50 people who donated blood Wednesday at an American Red Cross blood drive at the Clark County Public Service Center.
The blood drive is one of six that the county sponsors each year — with a good turnout of regular donors each time.
Since 2004, the event has helped collect 4,517 units of blood. That’s nearly double the amount collected in the same time period at other county-sponsored events — such as Clackamas County (2,865) and Multnomah County (2,702) in Oregon.
In the past 25 years, the Clark County-sponsored blood drive has collected nearly 7,000 units of blood.
And while the drive is open to the public, a majority of the donors are county employees.
“These regular donors really are the backbone of the community blood supply,” said Jared Schultzman, spokesman for the American Red Cross blood services. “To run a drive every two months and get this kind of turnout is special.”
Anita Temme, administrative assistant to the director of public works, has organized the event for 13 years. She says that when she sends an email reminder to regular donors, she usually fills up half of the blood donation appointments.
“To me, they have generous hearts,” she said of her colleagues. “They’re grateful, giving employees, and I’ve been blessed to work here almost 13 years.”
The blood, she says, goes to premature babies, crash victims and those receiving cancer treatment. One pint of blood, the Red Cross reports, has the potential to save three lives.
“It’s very gratifying for me to donate,” she said.
And though blood donation involves needles — something that makes some cringe and others faint — donors file one-by-one into the Red Cross bus to stomach the uneasiness in order to do some good.
Kay Hust, operations manager of the Salmon Creek wastewater plant, said she’s given at least four times a year for the past 20 years.
“I always like to think I’m helping somebody,” she said as she lay back, squeezing a small foam football to help pump the blood out of her arm. “I don’t know who it is, and I don’t have to know.”
Lader agreed that he likes that he’s helping a stranger with his donation, but added that when he gets an email from the American Red Cross telling the story of someone helped by a donation, he’s touched.
“I have a 5-year-old son, so when kids are helped by blood donation, it makes it personal for me,” he said. “I’m healthy, and I have something to give back.”
After having a snack and drinking some juice, Lader got ready to head back to work — but not before signing up for the next blood drive.
