By Jenna Schrader

On Valentine’s Day, dozens of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) employees rolled up their sleeves to donate blood at the American Red Cross sickle cell blood drive in Richardson, Texas. Employees from various departments and backgrounds filled the donation room, eager to contribute to the cause and leave a lasting impact on the community.

BCBSTX Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark Chassay led the company-wide effort. He was among the first donors to give blood that morning. Chassey was quickly joined by BCBSTX Vice President of Operations Patty Escoe and President Jim Springfield.

“It’s important for me to be a donor, to help save lives,” Escoe said. “I have always wanted to donate blood, but because I lived overseas for nine years, I was ineligible to donate until the blood donation guidelines recently changed. Now that I can donate, I am very excited to give and contribute to saving lives.”

BCBSTX employees collectively donated 77 units of blood. Every unit, which is approximately equal to a pint of donated blood, can save more than one life.

“Several things made this drive unique,” explained Red Cross Account Manager Tiffany Mclean. “Three high-level executives came to donate, which is pretty special. Another unique thing was that 21 of the units we collected were [from donors] of African American descent.”

In the U.S., about 100,000 people of various racial and ethnic backgrounds are living with sickle cell disease, most of whom are of African or Latino descent. “Sickle cell blood drives are important and different from a regular blood drive because, with these drives, we are aiming to get more minorities to come and donate so that we can diversify the blood supply,” said Mclean.

There is a constant need for all blood types, but the demand is often higher for types O and B. Some ethnic groups are more likely to have these blood types and play a key role in ensuring patient availability.

Much of the success of this drive was due to efforts from members of the African Americans in Motion (AAIM) Business Resource Group within BCBSTX. AAIM brought awareness to the drive by hosting a session about Sickle Cell Therapy on February 7, including a presentation from the Red Cross on the importance of donating blood and the new FDA gene therapy drugs for sickle cell therapy.