‘A real challenge’: Blood Bank of Hawaii seeks new donors to replenish supply

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Donations of blood tend to dip during the Summer months. The coronavirus pandemic also isn’t helping.

On Saturday, the Hawaii Building & Construction Trades Council organized a blood drive in Kailua town today to support the Blood Bank of Hawaii.

Over a span of 8 hours, there were 112 donors who came out.

The pandemic has taken a toll on donations and BBH’s ability to host in-person drives.

“It has been a real challenge,” BBH President and CEO Kim-Anh Nguyen said. “Before the pandemic, our blood supply came in from holding blood drives at schools, at businesses, on the neighbor islands. Well with the pandemic, lockdowns happen and so all of those blood drives went away in an instant.”

In just a few hours during Saturday’s drive, over four hundred pints were already donated. Among the participants was Lt. Gov. Josh Green.

“We are down about 15% across the summer. There was just an accident out on the Pali. I saw a woman at the farmers market who passed out because of anemia. The need is everywhere. So I would like to encourage everyone to give blood. This is a good time to do it,” Green said.

The Hawaii building and construction trades council is hoping you can help them with their effort. The group has set a goal of reaching 500 donations by the end of the month

“We decided to get together and make it a friendly competition between all of the building trades which is about 16 different units to come out and challenge our members and staff to get out here and donate blood,” Hawaii Building & Construction Trades Council President Damien Kim said.

To learn more or to find a nearby donation site, click here.

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