Saving lives: Blood Bank’s youngest donor dedicated to giving back
Published:Saturday | June 20, 2020 | 12:14 AMJamila Litchmore/Special Projects and Engagement Editor
Gabrielle Hoo is the youngest donor at the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS).
And with two voluntary donations under her belt, the 16-year-old student is just beginning to put entries on her donor card but is already showing extraordinary commitment.
“I’ve always known that I wanted to start donating, and once I turned 16, that was the first thing I wanted to do: donate,” Gabrielle told The Gleaner.
In fact, instead of the usual birthday celebrations, the student of the St Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, planned to donate blood for her 16th birthday in November 2019.
“When she was 15, she said, ‘Mom, for my 16th birthday, I know what I want to do. I want to organise a sweet 16 and have all my friends give blood, and afterwards, we can go out and have something to eat’,” shared Gabrielle’s mother, Karen Hoo.
However, with Gabrielle away at school, the birthday celebration could not happen as planned.
So in January, one year shy of her 17th birthday, the age required to give blood in Jamaica, the former Immaculate Conception High School student went to the NBTS on Slipe Pen Road with her father, who gave parental consent, allowing her to make her first donation.
The aspiring medical doctor would later return to the Blood Bank in May, having earlier come home for spring break.
“I think [she wants to donate blood] because we have older parents and she has grandparents that have been in the hospital. We have had to go and donate blood, and being very young, she’s always expressed that she wanted to give blood, but we said, ‘You have to wait until you’re 16’,” said Hoo of her daughter, Gabrielle.
Hoo noted that Gabrielle’s first time giving blood was not “a wonderful experience” but that the teenager was eager to try again and even brought the family along with her.
“The last time, she encouraged me to come with her and Dad. We came as a family during COVID-19, and we gave, and it was fine; we had a great time. It was great knowing that we’re helping to save lives,” said Hoo, adding that the pandemic made donating even more important.
“So many people are not coming, and so we had to make the extra effort,” said Hoo. It is a sentiment also held by Gabrielle.
“Just what happened the other day with the policemen, like you see these emergencies come in, and you need blood. The blood needs to be there so that you can help these people, but if it’s not there, you can’t really save their lives, so I think that’s what really led me to do it because blood is in such need,” said Gabrielle.
With two donations down, Hoo is on her way to joining other veteran donors and was one of 16 donors and advocates celebrated at the NBTS’s World Blood Donor Day ceremony on Monday.
World Blood Donor Day is celebrated annually on June 14 and aims to acknowledge blood donors and raise awareness about the need for safe blood.
It provided Gabrielle with the opportunity to meet Sonya Binns Lawrence, a donor whose book is filled with entries.
107 DONATIONS
The 54-year-old phlebotomist at Central Medical Labs has made a total of 107 donations to the Blood Bank, her first donation being made at 17 in 1983.
“My sister was having a baby, and she had no one to give the blood for her at that time, so I decided to give,” recounted Binns Lawrence.
Binns Lawrence became a consistent voluntary donor after she began working for the Blood Bank and now donates religiously every three months. She encouraged potential donors to look at donations as a pre-emptive action.
“I would encourage everyone to open a Blood Bank account to ensure that blood is in the bank whenever you or your loved ones need it. The blood you give today may save your life tomorrow,” said Binns Lawrence.
Binns Lawrence’s story bears many similarities to those of Ralph Campbell and Andrew Gauntlett, who were both honoured at the ceremony for having donated more than 50 units of blood.
Andrew Gauntlett has donated blood more than 60 times. The 42-year-old first gave blood in 2001 to help a family friend who needed blood. Ten years later, he was again called upon to donate, and since that day, the warehouse manager said, he has “never stopped”.
Ralph Campbell started giving blood after he joined the Jamaica Defence Force in 1988. For Campbell, who has donated more than 50 units, it was a neighbour who was the impetus.
“I decided to give blood because a next-door neighbour of mine died because her parents refused to give her blood because she’s a Jehovah’s Witness, and for that to happen, I decided to have some blood in an account if any member of my family or anybody I know who wants blood, they can have it,” said Campbell.
Now, the 53-year-old sergeant donates “every 12 weeks” like clockwork.
The Blood Bank has seen an increase in the number of voluntary donations, stemming from its ‘new normal’ blood drives. Replacement donors have also been making donations, but the need is still great.
“We have never been able to adequately supply what our needs are, but we do treat and are able to meet the emergent needs, and so we have found, over the last couple of weeks, that [our reserve] has actually improved greatly,” said Dr Alisha Tucker, acting director of the NBTS.
The importance of voluntary donors cannot be overstated.
“It is through the voluntary donations that we are able to actually have sustainable blood supply because as you can imagine, somebody comes to give now, and then they are looking forward again to give every three months, and so the more people you have coming out like that, the more adequate blood supply you can have,” said Tucker.
To donate blood or learn more about the National Blood Transfusion Service, call (876) 630-1984. You may also visit nbts.gov.jm or @1bloodbankja on Twitter and Instagram. Have a good story you’d like to share? Email us at goodheart@gleanerjm.com.