GLASGOW, Del. – The Delaware Nepali Society Blood Drive booked 37 donors at its annual blood drive held Saturday, April 13 at Glasgow Regional Park, amidst Blood Bank of Delmarva’s two-week blood emergency.
Dr. Santosh Kadel, the blood drive coordinator, is the Clinical Architect, Laboratory Medicine at ChristianaCare, and he told DNS members about the current blood supply emergency.
“I’m very excited about this noble cause,” Kadel said. “I want to acknowledge and appreciate [Blood Bank of Delmarva Medical Director] Dr. Bruce Sachais for allowing us to do this. Also, this blood drive would not have been possible if you [donors] had not participated. I totally appreciate everyone’s role in this. We are literally saving lives.”
The Delaware Nepali Society celebrated the lifesaving event with an auspicious ceremony that observed the Nepalese New Year and also featured New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer as guest speaker.
Meyer spoke about the need for blood donors, not just for the blood emergency, but for the nearly yearlong program implemented by New Castle County Paramedics. Leaders at New Castle County Paramedics came to Meyer’s last year and made the case for partnering with Blood Bank of Delmarva to transfuse whole blood out in the field. This would give paramedics more of a chance to save the lives of people suffering from traumatic events, such as serious car accidents and shootings that often caused people to bleed to death, by transfusing patients before they get the hospital.
But, the County Paramedics were worried about two things, the financial cost and chronic blood shortages.
“I said, money is okay. We’ll get it in the budget, and we’ll save lives,” Meyer said. “The other is, we need people to give blood. It’s not one person or two people, it’s hundreds of people [who need] to give blood. In the first six months we did this, 26 people received blood – 26 people who may not be alive today had they not received blood.”
With that, Meyer commended the Nepali Society for its successful, annual blood drive. He also gave out the awards for top, overall donor to DSN Secretary Bijaya Raj Gaire, who donated for the 28th time on Saturday, and Sambhavi Parajuli, who is the top, in state donor (eight donations) for DSN.
Thanks to organizations like the Delaware Nepali Society and Charity Crossing, BBD doubled its Asian donors between 2022 and 2023, from 1.4% to 2.8%.
“Increasing diversity in the blood supply better serves the local community,” BBD Director of Laboratories Kristin Frederick said. “We need more people in general to consider donating blood.”
Among the donors was first-timer Ashish Dahal, of Middletown, Delaware.
“I always wanted to donate blood, but there was never a good time,” Dahal said. “It’s not just for you, you’re saving the world.”
