2024 has been a pivotal year in Blood Bank of Delmarva’s (BBD) history, with the 70th anniversary marked impressively with growth in collections and operations. By the end of the year, BBD will have collected 70,896 units of red cells, a 10% increase over 2023, and 13,044 platelets, a 4% increase.
An exciting mix of historic milestones and events, important efforts to diversify the blood supply, traditionally strong mobile drives, impressive new mobile drives, and an increase in youth donations, all contributed to the division’s outstanding success.
It seems as though 2024 went by quickly. Here are the highlights from an impressive year.
Historic Milestones and Events
Throughout the year, it seemed like the milestone achievements and historic events for BBD just wouldn’t stop happening.
Three donors reached milestone platelet donation numbers in 2024 – Eric Mayer and Robert Moley both eclipsed their 500th donation, while John Nanni made his 400th platelet donation on World Blood Donor Day.
The celebration of our platelet donors didn’t end there, as platelet donor Dave Myers was inducted into the Fresenius Kabi National Blood Donation Hall of Fame. It was the first local inductee since 2011.
Also, for the first time in three years, a donor and patient meet-and-greet was held when Caleb Quick met six of the donors who helped save his life in a powerful ceremony at Newark Charter School during the Hero Day blood drive.
Historic growth occurred throughout the year for BBD, highlighted by the grand opening for the brand-new Middletown Donor Center, which built upon the success of mobile blood drives in this growing town. Addtionally, Kent County Emergency Medical Services Division (EMS) joined BBD’s low titer O positive pre-hospital whole blood program, providing comprehensive coverage in Delaware for this lifesaving product. BBD also expanded into southeastern Pennsylvania, with the addition of Southern Chester County Paramedics carrying packed red cells.
BBD was also a division that was allowed to pilot the Mobile Pod. The Pod started at Tanger Outlets in Rehoboth, before moving to the outlets in Ocean City, Salisbury University, TSS Avondale in Pennsylvania, and the Hockessin Public Library. The Pod garnered great media attention for BBD in Rehoboth Blood Donation Revolution: BBD’s New Pods, Salisbury Salisbury University and the Blood Bank of Delmarva band together – 47abc and Avondale Blood Bank of Delmarva rolls out big red donation pod.
Last, but certainly not least, the 70th anniversary celebration kicked off with BBD’s first-ever National Blood Donor Month Press Conference at ChristianaCare’s Christiana Hospital. The event received extensive media coverage, thus fulfilling the goal of raising awareness for the need for blood in the dead of winter.
Diversity Efforts Prove Successful
Having a diverse blood supply is key, and BBD is proactively working on outreach toward minority donors in an effort to increase the diversity of the blood supply. There are three main parts to those efforts – honoring and thanking the individuals who have already been helping, bringing in new mobile drives and new community groups to donate, and being present at community events to be able to talk to those diverse groups.
In February, the inaugural Dr. Charles Drew Lifesaver Award was presented to William Garrett, who is the coordinator of BBD’s annual Dr. Charles R. Drew Memorial Blood Drive. Thanks in part to Garrett’s efforts, BBD has seen a steady increase in the number of African American donors.
Meanwhile, a second chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity held the In Honor of Dr. Charles R. Drew Blood Drive, Delaware Nepali Society collected 40 units at its blood drive, and the Shree Swaminarayan Temple of Delaware held its inaugural blood drive, the Sickle Cell Association of Delaware held a blood drive, and Charity Crossing, continued to hold quarterly blood drives.
Additionally, BBD was represented at a number of events in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month in September and October.
Youth Donations on the Rise
In 2024, BBD started to see the positives of lowering the minimum donation age to 16, including media coverage with donors Mackenzie Fanning: Blood Bank issues plea for youth donors and Ben Parsons: Local teen donates blood for first time | Cape Gazette.
That positive momentum continued with a multitude of successful high school blood drives, including Appoquinimink and Seaford, Smyrna and Cape Henlopen, Saint Mark’s, and Archmere and Alexis I. duPont.
Additionally, the University of Delaware’s Fall Semester Blood Drive, booked a whopping 130 donors and brought in 112 units.
The success of high school drives led to another fantastic trend over the summer, as young donors migrated to the donor centers in record numbers to continue donating.
Long-running Blood Drives Help with Collection Goals
It was another banner year for some of BBD’s traditional blood drives. This year’s In Honor of Maverick Blood Drive proved to still be formidable by bringing in nearly 60 units of blood. The annual Amy’s Army blood drive brought in 99 units, the seventh In Honor of Hunter McCoy Blood Drive booked 40 donors,. Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro held the second Remy’s Heroes drive, and BBD returned to Dover Motor Speedway for the 19th annual 9/11 Memorial Blood Drive and the rare opportunity for donors to take a spin around the Monster Mile.
Additionally, the second Love for Lisa drive brought in 52 units, the second In Honor of the Handley Family brought in 57 units, and partnerships with the New Castle County Police, New Castle County Government, and Sussex County EMS and New Castle County EMS continued to be extremely fruitful. BBD even brought Kent County Levy Court back on to the mobile schedule after a few years away.
The 25th annual Ocean City Blood Drive in January collected an outstanding 631 units to get the year started off strong. BBD returned in June to Ocean City and collected an outstanding 114 units.
And the fourth annual Blood for a Brew campaign not only enjoyed a successful summer, for the first time in its history the program was extended into a fall campaign, beginning in September, in partnership with local coffeehouses.
New Blood Drives Start with Impressive Numbers
New growth in blood drives was strong as BBD welcomed four inaugural blood drives – In Honor of the Handy Family, Schrader Strength, Every Drop Counts, and In Honor of Chris Skrobot. The flurry of new events led to BBD connecting with new donors and reconnecting with lapsed donors.
Volunteer Success
Volunteers continued to play a crucial role at BBD. In 2024, volunteers booked 157 appointments at community engagement events, provided nearly 11,000 handwritten thank you postcards, and received a perfect 5 of 5 rating for their expert Café volunteerism. Additionally, nearly 4,000 people interacted with a BBD volunteer or staff person in the community. Having volunteers allowed BBD staff to spend additional hours focusing on important tasks and provided the volunteers with a connection to an important community organization.
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