Paul Szmal: Let's check in now with Michael Tedesco from the American Red Cross. Uh, happy almost June, Michael. How are you?
Guest: I'm great, Paul. Thank you for having me once again. And that traffic situation, you described it. Aren't those usually reserved for Monday mornings and not a Friday morning?
Paul Szmal: Uh, yeah. The fact that it's Friday, I think just makes it that much worse.
Guest: Yeah.
Paul Szmal: All right. Let's get into a couple of things that we want to discuss here this morning. Uh, first off, unfortunately, blood and platelet donations typically decrease over the summer months. Is there a particular reason for that, Michael?
Guest: Yeah. And, um, we, we see a cyclical pattern a couple of times a year. Um, winter months are pretty easy to understand with a seasonal illness, bad weather, um, maybe people, uh, leaving the area to get away, um, uh, to, to sunnier climates, but, uh, summer, you wouldn't think so much, but there again, there's a unique combination of, uh, of good weather, uh, which we don't see a lot of, so you can't blame people for taking advantage of it. But, uh, typically people will schedule vacations during the summer months. A lot of other activities, you know, if you think about little leagues, soccer leagues, uh, adult, uh, recreation leagues, uh, people try to cram a lot into the summer and, and sometimes, uh, the regular blood donation may slip to the side during that period and the American red cross, if you didn't know, actually provides 40%, that's pretty close to half of the nation's blood supply.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, that's right.
Guest: And that's why we try to get out there and, and get the word out during those times I've just talked about that, um, you know, we can get sidetracked with other, um, interests and activities, but, uh, unfortunately the demand for blood never stops and when you're as a big supplier as the red cross is, it's important that we try to, we have to keep up with that demand and a couple of more alarming statistics for you. That should open your eyes. Uh, every two seconds, someone in the U S is in need of a blood transfusion and hospital patients, one in seven will need a blood transfusion that makes that need that much more critical.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, you're, you're absolutely right about that. Um, you know, the United States has a big population, which means we also have a lot of people who are ill at times. And if you just think about the cancer population is, uh, only, um, a lot of people who are going, undergoing cancer treatment, uh, will require blood transfusions or platelet infusions, um, due to the nature of the illness, or sometimes the type of treatment they're, they're receiving that destroys part of their, their healthy blood system.
Guest: We're talking with Michael Tedesco from the American red cross here on FLX morning. Uh, Michael, what is the most critical need right now in terms of blood types?
Paul Szmal: We are always looking for a type O negative blood donors. Uh, Type O negative as many might know is called the universal blood type. And if, uh, you know, I'm, I'm hoping that the accidents you described this morning don't result in serious injuries, but if they do, uh, when a person is rushed to a hospital with a trauma injury and there's no time to do a blood type on that individual type O negative is the blood they reach for. So anyone can receive type O blood.
Guest: What about, uh, there's some others that there's need for, because they're, they're very rare and, um, you know, it's pretty common to know that AB, uh, certain types of AB blood are rare, but you may not know that type B negative blood is also very rare, it represents less than 2% of our population. And those patients unfortunately can only receive blood from other B negative donors or the type O negative donor. So we're trying to keep healthy supplies of both of those blood types.
Paul Szmal: And you also touched on platelets being especially important for people with chronic diseases or cancer.
Guest: Exactly. Um, I'm sure everyone's known someone who's been touched by cancer and some of the blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, attacked the blood marrow where blood cells and platelets are formed. So, uh, a low platelet count can affect the patient's ability to produce healthy blood cells and even stop bleeding during, uh, surgical procedures. So, uh, sometimes unfortunately critical treatments have to be put on hold if the supply doesn't meet the demand. And something to think about here, platelets only last about five days. They need to be used up within that window.
Paul Szmal: Uh, there are a couple of incentives in place, Michael, uh, for summer donations of blood and platelets. Uh, there are, and one is, uh, valid for the next two or three days. If you go in to give blood, um, at, at a Red Cross drive, you will receive as long as supplies last a Red Cross beach towel, an oversized beach towel. I've seen it and it's, uh, it's a pretty nice thing to have for the summer months. And, um, the second thing at once we reached the month of June, we will have, uh, an e-gift card, uh, that's available, uh, for people who come to donate, um, they will be able to use that. Uh, it's a $15 e-gift card and they'll be able to use that and, uh, their choice of merchant plus they'll automatically be entered into a chance to win one of two $7,500 gift cards. So that's a national promotion that everyone's entered into. And actually we, we have had a winner from the Finger Lakes area of one of these types of nationwide promotions. I believe it may have been a Disney trip. Um, but, um, we, we, we have had that, uh, by the way, you can find out details about that, uh, e-gift card at RedCrossBlood.org slash June.
Guest: RedCrossBlood.org slash June. And of course, RedCrossBlood.org will give you information on where you can donate in your particular area. Let's shift gears here a little bit. I know we wanted to talk about a water safety because we're getting to that time of year when people are opening their pools and, uh, getting out on the rivers and lakes.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. You know, Memorial Day seems to be the, uh, the turning point for that. I know, uh, uh, the, my next door neighbors with their in-ground pool, every Memorial Day weekend, that cover comes off and, uh, they're ready to go and they have young grandchildren. So it's important that, uh, water safety is taken into consideration, uh, when the pools are in use during the summer months. And it's important to have certain life-saving skills under your belt. CPR being one of them.
Guest: Yeah, absolutely. Um, usually when someone is in need of CPR, it's not, uh, unfortunately in a hospital or right near medical professionals, it's up to the people around them to come to their, their aid. So, uh, every family should have, uh, a couple of people in it that are familiar with CPR at the very least hands-only CPR, which we often offer for free, uh, through, uh, area businesses and organizations, but, uh, it's a critical tool to have, um, you know, we, we saw a very graphic, um, uh, validation of that a couple of years ago on the football field with Demar Hamlin. So, um, and he was fortunate because there were trained medical professionals, but in most cases, it's up to the people around you to save you if you, if you have a cardio, um, uh, or, or pulmonary event, unfortunately, one of the tragic stories that we hear far too often during the summer months is of children drowning. Uh, Michael, there are any important, uh, safety tips or classes that people can have their kids take to learn to swim or be safe swimming?
Paul Szmal: Yeah. The last question first classes, um, the Red Cross itself does not offer swim classes. They can find those through local wise, um, or, or other organizations, but we do provide many water safety courses. So gives parents and adults and others who supervise children, some basic skills or reminders on, on what they should be watching for and how they should supervise people or, or young children in the water. Um, you know, we, we see an average, uh, according to the CDC, 11 people die from, uh, unintentional drowning each day. And the sad part is one in five of those are children, 14 or younger. So, um, knowing what to do, knowing how to properly supervise and pay attention to the surroundings, uh, are critical. And, uh, you can take those classes online through the Red Cross.
Guest: Now I've often heard never swim alone, uh, not only for adults, but especially for children.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, absolutely. Right. Uh, and, uh, cause you never know, especially with adults, um, someone could have a medical event and if they're not with somebody, um, you know, we're not even talking about inability to swim, but there, there's other things that could impact the tragedy in the water. So having a swim partner is always a good idea. Uh, but even more so when there's kids and, uh, you have to watch them constantly. Um, you should be preventing unsupervised access to the pool, uh, provide constant active supervision and, um, you know, teaching, making sure your child or, you know, the adult that you're with knows how to swim are critical layers of protection to help prevent drowning. Now, if you want to download the Red Cross Swim app that has more information on this, that's available in the Google play store or the Apple app store, just search Red Cross Swim, uh, available in both English and Spanish.
Guest: Michael, as always, we appreciate it. And I want to take a moment to congratulate you on your upcoming retirement.
Paul Szmal: Well, thank you, Paul. And it's, uh, um, the, the, the time of, uh, life that's now that I'm now approaching is, uh, kind of a surprise. It seems to go by in the blink of an eye, but I've been really fortunate to have spent the last five years working for the American Red Cross and seeing the very, very positive impact the organization has in so many ways in the community. And, uh, we're indebted to you and to, to FLX radio for helping us, uh, share our message about preparedness, about the need for blood. Um, that's a really critical and essential service that you're providing for us. So we very much appreciate the partnership and we thank you personally for, for helping us spread the word.
Guest: Well, I certainly appreciate the kind words and of course, we'll continue to sound the virtues of the Red Cross, the need for blood donations and seasonal tips as well. Michael, thank you for joining us as always. Appreciate it.
Paul Szmal: Thank you, Paul. Have a great day.
