Metrolink crash prompts a rush of blood donors
With nearly 100 people badly injured, the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center is filled with people seeking to help by giving of themselves. 'It's all you can do when you feel helpless,' one donor says.
Nearly every chair in the waiting room at the UCLA Blood & Platelet Center was filled this morning, and the line to register curled to the door.
After putting out a call for donors, the Westwood center was swamped overnight by 900 calls. Triple the usual number of donors showed up today - nearly all there to give in an effort to help the nearly 100 people with critical or serious injuries after Friday's deadly Metrolink crash in Chatsworth.
"It's all you can do when you feel helpless," said Annette Lesure, 35. Lesure, an actress from Toluca Lake, munched an M&M cookie after donating, her elbow wrapped in a fluorescent pink bandage.
The phone never stopped ringing as white-coated nurses ushered teenagers, mothers, retirees, students and business people from all over Los Angeles into rooms for health screenings, and then on to recliners to have their veins tapped.
"This is fantastic," said Linda Goss, the center's supervisor for donor recruitment. "We wish it was like this every day."
Goss estimated about 150 people would be donating either platelets or a pint of blood. The blood will go to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, which took in eight patients from the train wreck, and Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital, she said.
For some regular blood donors, there was no question that they would respond to Friday's trauma. Murphy Moore III, visiting from Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio State gridiron matchup with USC this evening, skipped a tailgate party today to give.
"It's something to remember the trip by besides an expensive plane ticket," said Murphy, 31, a card-carrying VIP Red Cross donor.
Other volunteers were first-timers. Some had to overcome nervousness, others were fearless and eager to help.
Guillermo Perez, 28, heard the sirens Friday night from his job two miles from the crash scene.
"I tried to drive back to see if there was a good way to help but everything was blocked," said Perez, a mental health caseworker who is training to be an emergency medical technician. Perez lives in Sylmar, and crosses the Chatsworth train tracks on his way to work. "This is the closest thing I can do to help."
Some donors, swathed in blankets, watched individual TV sets attached to their recliners.
The center fortuitously was open for its regular bimonthly Saturday hours, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., but opened a mobile blood bank behind the building to deal with any overflow. Goss said the center had brought on 20 people -- twice the normal number -- to handle the crush
Most donors said they were happy to spend part of their weekend pitching in. "For half an hour, to be able to make that kind of difference is a big impact with minimal consequence," said Bonnie Rejaei , 45, a real estate finance employee from West Los Angeles. "It's the least I can do."
Those wanting more information on blood donation can visit the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center website.
susannah.rosenblatt@latimes.com
