When John-Michael Elms got home from a deployment when he was serving in the military, he would wait a year before he donated blood again. Sometimes, it would be years between when he would donate because of his deployment schedules. But, as soon as he knew he was healthy, he would donate blood.
Elms said he knows how important blood donations are to the local patients. That’s why he is organizing blood drive in FishHawk. Every eight weeks, the time donors have to wait between donations, he has a Big Red Bus come to the Osprey Club.
“The next time we’ll be at that same location is the exact right time for you to be eligible to donate again,” he said.
As part of his effort, Elms is hoping to get more volunteers to donate blood. Right now, he has 15-20 donors each time but is hoping to get closer to 30 people coming out every eight weeks.
He said the number of donors in FishHawk is low. The number of blood donors fell during the coronavirus pandemic but hasn’t fully bounced back.
“They couldn’t crack the code on how to get people in the FishHawk-Lithia area to donate more regularly and that kind of inspired me to try and figure out how to get more people donating in our area,” he said.
He said this is partially because the FishHawk community has a strong veteran population. Elms, who served for 27 years, was one veteran who mistakenly thought you could never donate again after you were deployed. He said that isn’t “necessarily true,” as the phlebotomy technicians just need to confirm you do not have any blood related illnesses.
He also said people are weary of needles or don’t have the 30-40 minutes it takes to donate. However, Elms emphasized the importance of this lifesaving donation.
A OneBlood spokesperson said one of the benefits blood donors can get is information on how their blood is being used and their own health statistics, as well as gift cards. For the people who are scared of needles, he said the technicians do an amazing job drawing blood without pain or errors.
The next blood drive Elms is hosting will be on Saturday, April 26, between 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Osprey Club.
