Dozens of blood donors came to Oldsmar City Hall on Thursday in order to help increase the supply across the state in the wake of the Orlando nightclub tragedy.
In the wake of a tragedy such as the one that took place in Orlando last weekend, where a gunman killed 50 nightclub patrons and wounded as many more, people try to help out in any way they can.
For some that means donating blood, a relatively simple act, the importance of which is magnified whenever the need for donors is broadcast on a national level.
In Oldsmar, a previously scheduled blood drive experienced an unusually high turnout on Thursday, as dozens of donors eager to assist the Orlando victims boarded the OneBlood bloodmobile parked at City Hall between 9:00 a.m. and noon.
“A lot of people have come out today, well over our projections,” phlebotomist and Big Red Bus driver Tanya Dando told Oldsmar Connect
“We always see an increase in donations after a tragedy like the one in Orlando,” she added. “It’s great to see communities come together in the aftermath of these types of events.”
Among the donors, who are required to schedule an appointment beforehand and meet a certain set of requirements in order to give, was a San Francisco woman visiting Safety Harbor and Oldsmar’s fire chief, Dean O’Nale.
Chief O’Nale said he has been donating for a long time, and he knows how important his rare 0- blood type can be at a time like this.
“I give blood a couple of times a year anyway, and even though I wasn’t scheduled to give now, I wanted to do what I could to help,” the chief said as he laid on a gurney inside the bus with a needle in his arm, squeezing a red stress ball and sipping from a bottle of water.
“When I saw the bus was scheduled to be in town this week, I knew I had to get down here and help.”
For Margaret “Peggy” Schubert, the San Franciscan interrupted cleaning out her late parents’ house in Safety Harbor in order to contribute to the blood drive.
“As soon as they said they needed more B-type blood, I knew I needed to help,” Schubert said as she waited to donate.
“Even if I was back home, I would have done it,” she added. “My mother and father used to say, you can’t put dollar bills in somebody’s veins, and that led me to become a donor.”
Schubert said the magnitude of the tragedy in Orlando was hard to fathom, especially for someone who hails from the city that was the epicenter of the peace and love movement of the 1960s and 70s.
But she said she understands how it can happen, especially here in Florida.
“I’m horrified by all the gun stores, pawn shops and newspaper ads where anybody can buy these types of guns here,” she said of the style of the assault rifle style weapon that was used in the Orlando shooting. “It’s like buying bread.”
“The last gun shop closed in San Francisco a year ago, and there are no more gun shows there, either,” she added. “It’s extremely different here. There are a lot of wonderful people here, but I feel very out of place sometimes.”
While regular donors like O’Nale and Schubert are aware that their blood might not necessarily be going to help the Orlando shooting victims, Dando stressed that even when the memory of a horrific tragedy fades, the need for donated blood never goes away.
“Incidents like the one in Orlando raise the awareness to donate blood, but we take donations all year long,” she said.
“No matter where the donated blood goes, people need to realize they’re helping to save three people’s lives every time they give.”
For more information on donating blood in the greater Tampa Bay area, visit OneBlood.org.
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