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Social Justice and Community Activism – San Diego Blood Bank

Mitchell Ward

University of San Diego

Healthcare Informatics
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The event I chose to take part of was a blood drive through the San Diego Blood Bank, hosted by

the Riverwalk Golf Club in Mission Valley. The San Diego Blood Bank has been servicing the area since

1950 and strives to collect more than 350 units of blood each day to support patients who are dealing

with life-threatening blood disorders and cancers, suffering from trauma such as burns or accidents, and

even complications from childbirth (San Diego Blood Bank, 2021). COVID-19 has had its impact on

donations and demand by backlogging procedures such as elective surgeries. The United states alone is

projected to have more than 1 million joint and spinal surgeries delayed by mid-2022 (The Lancet

Rheumatology, 2021). This will certainly require extraordinary efforts from organizations and donors to

accommodate for these procedures as areas begin to diminish restrictions. The opportunity to volunteer

towards an effort that aims to care for its community especially in times of higher need was an honor.

A mobile donation center, shown in Figure 1, was placed in the parking lot of the Riverwalk Golf

Club to provide an easily accessible site for appointments and walk-ins. The interior, Figure 2, consisted

of spaced out multiple beds and a continued registration area to accommodate for the donor’s well-

being. My role was to register and provide a safe experience for the donors. Measures included

confirming a valid identification, taking temperatures, and questioning the donors to ensure they met

the requirements for donation that day. Additional responsibilities consisted of keeping the check-in

area sanitary and providing them with donor educational material if it was their first time with the San

Diego Blood Bank or upon request.

Having the opportunity to assist the San Diego Blood Bank provide a much needed service to its

community was important to me because the work they do has the potential to help so many different

individuals across numerous complications. It was great to see people of all ages, backgrounds and

ethnicities give up a portion of their day to donate. One of the most gratifying attributes of the event

was how many people responded to seeing people doing something for others, and in turn wanted to
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contribute themselves. Many were recurring donators which is always appreciated but servicing

newcomers was a welcoming experience of its own. Whether they made an appointment for the first

time or the donation site caught their eye as they were passing, watching people fortunate enough to

make the decision to help others in that moment was truly inspirational.
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References

The Lancet Rheumatology. (2021). Too long to wait: the impact of COVID-19 on elective surgery. The

Lancet Rheumatology, 3(2). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913(21)00001-1

San Diego Blood Bank. (2021). Donate Blood. San Diego Blood Bank.

https://www.sandiegobloodbank.org/donors.
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Figures

Figure 1. Image of the mobile blood bank setting with the registration area

Figure 2. Inside the San Diego Blood Bank mobile station with two of the serving nurses
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Figure 3. Screenshot of the volunteer event confirmation