Knowing your history is one of the most satisfying things when you are faced with ignorance. Modern medicine, as we know it, wouldn’t exist without the pioneering intelligence of an African American surgeon, Dr. Charles R. Drew. Drew pioneered methods of storing blood plasma for transfusion and organized the first large-scale blood bank in the U.S. Due to systemic racism in our country, he died at a hospital that wouldn’t treat him because of his skin color. Imagine how much more he might have shared with humanity.

The Kappa Alpha Alpha Chapter of Omega Psi Phi will hold its annual Dr. Charles R. Drew Blood Drive in partnership with the Red Cross on May 23rd at the N. H. Scott Recreation Center, 2230 Tilson Road in Decatur, from 9AM - 2PM. Walk-ins are welcome. Maurice Mason, over the organization’s health initiative, joins us.

Mason explains that the organization's Blood Drive initiative was implemented in 2000 and soon after rolled out nationally. He shares that the main reason many people don’t give blood is their fear of needles and the pain of needles. According to the Red Cross, they need approximately 29,000 units of blood every day.

I asked about the importance of matching antigens when donating blood. Mason speaks about blood donations for some patients who require that the antigens match. Antigens are proteins found on the surface of red blood cells. Many African Americans and sickle cell patients require the CEK-negative antigen, meaning it is important for our community to give blood.

Mason goes on to share that they have partnered with the Red Cross and have a focus on serving Sickle Cell patients, along with recruiting people to become Power Red Donors. Mason explains that Power Red donors are able to provide two units of concentrated blood, drawn automatically by a machine that returns your platelets and plasma via a saline solution. This takes a little longer than donating one unit of whole blood.

The summer months are notoriously hard for blood collection, coinciding with the time when the need for donated blood is higher. Please donate to the Red Cross or your local Blood Bank, here in Atlanta, that’s LifeSouth. Help our national and community blood banks be ready. Donate Saturday, May 23rd, at the Dr. Charles R. Drew Memorial Blood Drive at the Scott Recreation Center on Tilson Road from 9AM - 2PM.