By: Lori Baker, Communications Volunteer

After then-U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams announced that the nation had lost 80% of its blood supply because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Bob Ditch of Civil Air Patrol started making calls to set up blood drives.

Ditch had already launched successful Civil Air Patrol blood drives in 2017 at Falcon Composite Squadron at Falcon Field Airport in Mesa as part of Operation Pulse Lift.

Civil Air Patrol, founded in 1941 as an official civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is dedicated
to serving America’s communities, saving lives, and shaping futures. It is a Congressionally chartered nonprofit focused on youth development, aerospace education, and emergency services.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, Ditch expanded Operation Pulse Lift to eight more Civil Air Patrol sites in Arizona and 50 nationwide in six states. Falcon Field increased its blood drives from three a year to 20 a year.

“I made some phone calls to open our facilities for blood drives. Not a single person got COVID from our drives. While universities, schools, churches and businesses closed down, we kept going,” said Ditch, who is a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and served for 33 years.

Today, Operation Pulse Lift has grown to 37 states, including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The blood donated through this mission over the last five years has the potential to save more than 180,000 lives. The program is Civil Air Patrol’s and the Air Force’s largest and longest humanitarian mission in history.

Since 2017, there have been 141 blood drives at Falcon Field and 718 nationally, collecting about 58,000 blood units. Besides the Red Cross, blood is collected for several other blood collection agencies depending on the location of the blood drives.

Ditch is the director and nationwide incident commander for Operation Pulse Lift, which is operated solely by volunteers. There is no cost to Civil Air Patrol to host the blood drives. The blood collection agencies provide all the materials needed.

Civil Air Patrol members in six more states are in the process of setting up their first blood drives.

Ditch is working with the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He also is collaborating with the Red Cross and Armed Services Blood Program to set up blood drives at military installations overseas.

About 10,000 members are helping with Civil Air Patrol blood drives. With more than 70,000 Civil Air Patrol members, Ditch said there are many opportunities to set up more blood drives.

“The nation needs continued support from volunteers to assist in reducing the shortages of blood,” Ditch said.

Over the past five years, Civil Air Patrol’s Kansas Wing has performed over 2,200 emergency blood transports at no cost to the patient or agency that needs the blood. Ditch is hoping to expand this program to other states.

Operation Pulse Lift  received several national accolades, including the President of the United States-Volunteer Service Award; the Headquarters First Air Force–AFNORTH /AFSPACE Commander's Award for the Most Meritorious CAP Mission; and Civil Air Patrol members were recognized by the Commander-Defense Health Agency for their mission contributions.

The American Red Cross is the nation’s largest single supplier, providing about 40% of blood and blood products. Each day, the Red Cross must collect about 12,000 units of blood at approximately 500 blood drives in order to meet this constant and urgent need.

Blood donation appointments can be scheduled by visiting RedCrossBlood.org, downloading the Blood Donor App or calling 1-800-RED CROSS.

For more information about Civil Air Patrol, go to gocivilairpatrol.com.