Sharon Brooks spent part of Monday afternoon donating blood. The 65-year-old said she used to be anemic.
Now better, she’s returning the favor to those who donated blood to her.
“I was able to get blood to build my blood up,” said Brooks, of Chicago. “That’s why I want to give, because I want to give back to those that are in need of the blood type that I have.”
The American Red Cross partnered with Northwestern Medicine to host the first community blood drive at the recently opened Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Outpatient Center, 4822 S. Cottage Grove Ave.
The event in Bronzeville, a predominantly African American neighborhood, highlights a need for a more diverse blood donor base, said Tammy Winchester, emerging markets manager for the American Red Cross of Illinois.
“Right now, we don’t have enough diverse donors — diverse meaning African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans,” Winchester said. “This is our effort to march forward and educate the community to start participating in this … call of action.”
Donated blood is essential for patients undergoing surgery, cancer treatment, organ transplants and trauma care. Blood is also needed for people living with chronic illnesses such as sickle cell disease. Those conditions often require closely matched blood types.
Sickle cell disease affects about 100,000 people in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 90% of people with sickle cell disease are Black.
Some people choose not to donate blood due to lack of education, lack of access or fear of needles, Winchester said. But she says the need for blood donors should overcome those fears.
“I always tell people I don’t like needles, but I try to donate,” she said. “We can’t say it enough about the need for diverse donors and to build our donor pool.”
Kimbra Bell, director of the Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Outpatient Center, said people are saving lives when they donate blood.
“When community members come together to donate blood, they are quite literally helping save lives — whether it’s a neighbor undergoing surgery, a child with sickle cell disease or a trauma patient in urgent need,” Bell said.
