Attacks spur record number of donations

  DANIEL WONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Former UCLA student
Scott Isley was one of the hundreds of people who donated blood at
the UCLA Medical Center Tuesday.

By Rachel Makabi and Cuauhtemoc
Ortega
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

An outpouring of blood donors filled the halls of the UCLA
Medical Center’s sixth floor in response to the attacks on
the United States Tuesday morning.

At 8:30 a.m., the UCLA Medical Center’s staff were put on
a “code yellow” alert, under which precautionary
measures are taken in anticipation of a possible medical
crisis.

Hospital beds were cleared and non-critical operations were
deferred to a later time until the code was voided at 2:30 p.m.

“We are in a state of readiness and our staff knows that
they will be on call at notice,” said Gerald Levey, dean of
the School of Medicine.

While main departments in the hospital did not experience an
influx of patients, workers and volunteers in the Blood and
Platelet Center said Tuesday was the busiest day in the
center’s history.

“The (1994) earthquake was the last time it was this
busy,” said Pam Bumerts, senior clinical lab technical
specialist at the center. “But it was not even half as busy
as it was today.”

On an average day, the center collects approximately 40 units of
blood donations. But by 3 p.m. Tuesday, the center collected close
to 100 units of blood and was expecting to receive upward of 175
units.

Staff from other departments in the hospital and community
volunteers, including crew members from American Airlines, came to
help people make appointments and draw blood.

“I heard it was a madhouse so I came over,” said
Julian Galperson, a retired CEO of a manufacturing company who
worked as a “greeter and pacifier for the donors.”

Two hundred people donated blood, and many more were asked to
make appointments for other days because of staff limitations, said
Barbara Willahan, an administrative nurse at the Blood and Platelet
Center.

But because of the current local blood shortage and the enormous
projected need for victims of the attack, hospital officials
stressed the need for more donors.

“Some will be used here, and the rest will be shipped and
organized through the Red Cross,” said Jonathan Braun, chair
of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

Many students and community members had to wait several hours
before donating blood.

“I assumed that there would be a blood shortage because
there were a lot of people injured,” said Christina Louie, a
first-year mathematics student who waited more than two hours.

Many other donors wanted to help because they have friends and
family in affected areas.

“I was shocked and dazed because I have cousins in
Manhattan,” said Mariela Vargas, a third-year English
student. “It makes me feel proud that everyone is coming to
support.”

The hospital staff acknowledged the community effort to
cooperate by donating blood during this crisis.

“The best thing about this is that you see something
constructive coming out of (the attacks),” Braun said.

Members of the UCLA community who wish to donate blood can call
(310) 825-0888, option 2.

With reports by Marcelle Richards, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.