" Monday, 07 July 2008
By David Taube

Staff Writer

Regional blood centers have focused on Latino population recruitment for the past year, but turnout among members of diverse populations remains low or concealed.

Blood drives in the following weeks may garner opportunities for change.

The American Red Cross Hazleton Chapter will hold one of the largest drives of its northeastern Pennsylvania regional organization Wednesday at the Genetti’s Best Western in Hazleton. The donor site is located at 1441 N. Church St. and will run from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The goal is 160 units for part of its annual, region-wide Independence Day 2008 drive.

No particular blood types are being sought at this time, said Joyce Bradbury, executive director of the chapter. As of June 23, Types A-negative, B-negative, AB-negative and both O-positive and O-negative were marked as "low" for NEPA, according to www.nepagivelife.org, on a scale with critical, low and safe levels for the of the four different blood groups.

"It’s that shot in the arm we typically need in the summer when donations tend to dribble off a bit," said John Castagna, communications manager of the American Red Cross Northeastern Pennsylvania Region.

Miller-Keystone will hold a regular drive July 15 at Hazleton General Hospital, 700 E. Broad St., for the company’s daily goal of 450 units. Additional times and contact information are available at www.giveapint.org.

For Miller-Keystone, individuals having O-negative and A-negative blood types are especially being sought, said Catherine Palumbo, director of marketing.

Individuals with Type O-negative blood are referred to as universal donors because patients with any blood type can receive transfusions. Typically, a victim’s blood type is needed in order to make sure one’s body will not reject the transfusion, but any patient’s body will accept O-negative.

In the United States, 38 percent of the population has O-positive or O-negative blood. While 37 percent of caucasians fit this profile, more than 50 percent of Hispanics may have O-type blood, according to research by the University of Texas at Galveston last fall.

The demand for the universal blood type has prompted some recruitment of diverse populations.

Palumbo said Miller-Keystone has specifically sought for the past year to recruit individuals from Latino populations from the 24/7 Spanish-speaking radio station Hola 1600AM, which serves Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton markets, in addition to Channel 69 News. Palumbo declined to comment how this advertising affected Latino donors.

For the American Red Cross in northeastern Pennsylvania, 770 units of blood out of 85,000 collected in the past year were from Latino donors. Field representatives for the organization have sought to change that by talking to local businesses and political figures nearly every day since the past year, Castagna said.

"We don’t look at it as color," said Sybil Miller, communications director for the northeast division of the American Red Cross. "We look at it as different ways to reach out to your community — it could be age, religion or ethnicity."

A press release for the American Red Cross Independence Days 2008 reads, "The need for O-types of blood is increasing at a time when donation — and engagement by that [the Hispanic] population is not."

But Castagna said that the organization has done little advertising other than by word-of-mouth to specifically solicit this population.

Latinos actively engaged in the community cited several reasons for this turnout.

Agapito Lopez, who served on the board of directors for the American Red Cross Hazleton Chapter, said many adults in the area work two shifts, others have a language barrier and many may be unaware of blood drives.

Ignacio Beato, a Dominican Republic native and co-founder of the Dominican House, said residents of his country do not have a history of donating blood. Furthermore, Beato said, comparing ethnicity is like comparing apples to oranges because the Latino population had no significant presence in Hazleton until 2000.

Beato, a Hazleton resident of five years, said he has not noticed any recruitment of Latinos for blood donations in either Spanish or English.

"The city is beginning to see Latinos integrate with the community and that they are here to stay," Beato said. "But Latinos need to be informed about the issues and causes."

dtaube@standardspeaker.com

http://standardspeaker.com/index.php...=7812&Itemid=2

From SeaTurtle: If there were no significant Hispanic population before 2000, how can they still argue that there is no problem with illegal aliens in Hazleton? Also, Mr. Beato says Hispanics are starting to integrate. I think not. I go to Hazleton at least three times a week and there is an obvious lack of assimilation. He may think "they are here to stay" but this same newspaper often prints hispandering illegal alien sob stories about how Latinos had to pack in their businesses over a law that never even went into effect.

These bright gems are Mexico's finest? Good grief. Not to mention that lack of American spirit -- Americans don't give in and run away at the first sign of trouble. We stand tall and proud, and fight for what we believe in. Yet another reason "they are {NOT} here to stay."