Bill Sinn spent 35 years working for Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, 20 of which as the hospital’s blood bank manager or, officially, the blood bank’s lead technologist. Highly respected for his expertise in testing, matching, and preparing blood for transfusion to meet a variety of the hospital’s patients’ needs, Sinn is now a quiet, humble, and extremely skilled volunteer serving with the American Red Cross Biomedical Services department as a Transportation Specialist.

Volunteering for a year so far as a Transportation Specialist, Bill helps the Red Cross supply about 40% of the nation’s blood and blood components when and where they are needed. The Red Cross provides the safest, most reliable blood products possible to patients in need. It also provides rare blood types that some hospitals need or don’t have sufficient supplies of.

Patients are diverse, and the blood each patient requires is different depending not only on their blood type (e.g., O, A, B, AB) but also complex factors such as antigens. Antigens are a substance on red blood cells that help determine blood type. There are more than 600 known antigens, and some are unique to specific racial and ethnic groups. That’s the reason why someone like Bill working at a hospital blood bank needs to make sure that each patient is matched with the best, most compatible blood when they are transfused. They also need to understand and comply with complex medical regulations.

Patty Montmorency, Regional Transportation Team Lead volunteer, said that with his blood expertise, Bill is more than a driver. “I call Bill our switch hitter – good on both sides,” she said. Recalling when he was part of a group of new volunteer transportation specialists she was training, she said, “Bill kindly shared technical and logistical details about blood products with interested transportation specialists as they delivered boxes to his former hospital.”

She added, “He is all one could desire in a Red Cross volunteer – professional, polite, kind, timely, reliable, and has constructive ideas. He agreed to consider becoming a transportation specialist volunteer trainer for us, teaching other blood delivery drivers. Not something everyone has a gift for doing.”

Now that Bill is driving blood supplies from the Red Cross to area hospitals, he enjoys being able to interact with former colleagues at various hospitals. “It’s good for me to get out of the house,” he said, “and to feel like I’m doing something of value to the community – something having to do with the gift of life. Blood is a valuable resource, just like a heart transplant.”

That sense of purpose makes sitting in the Bay Area traffic with a van full of blood products less stressful. He says he has a different mindset now that he’s there as a Red Cross volunteer. “If it takes me an hour to get there, that’s what it takes,” he said.

Bill and his colleagues encourage everyone to donate blood if they are able. The need for blood is constant and, as Sinn said, “when you donate, you leave with a great sense of satisfaction. You help change a life.”

If you want to schedule an appointment to donate blood or platelets, visit RedCrossBlood.org.