story10348.xml
Title
story10348.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2004-01-17
911DA Story: Story
As I work in a hospital blood bank, my first reaction was to get to work. The phone calls from people wishing to be donors started to pour in. We didn't have a lot of time to think about what may or maynot have been happening to our country because we were trying to assess how to handle the influx of donors. We needed a plan of action.
People came from all over the hospital to help us with phone calls and scheduling. As tragic as the day was, the next few days reminded all of us that, although there is evil in the world, most people are very good and very caring. When a need arises, people really do want to help each other.
The same scenario was playing out across the country. People worked around the clock. The sad part was that we had so many blood products collected and ready for use, but there was no need. In New York, there were no patients. There were the people who escaped and there were the dead.
As a country, we had more blood products available that month than we had a use for. Many donors became discouraged, even angry, when they heard that units of blood expired and were discarded. We should never feel this way about the outpouring of human kindness on 9-11. For those of us who are healthy, blood is a renewable resource. We were there to give in a time of crisis. We should be proud. We should be thankful.
People came from all over the hospital to help us with phone calls and scheduling. As tragic as the day was, the next few days reminded all of us that, although there is evil in the world, most people are very good and very caring. When a need arises, people really do want to help each other.
The same scenario was playing out across the country. People worked around the clock. The sad part was that we had so many blood products collected and ready for use, but there was no need. In New York, there were no patients. There were the people who escaped and there were the dead.
As a country, we had more blood products available that month than we had a use for. Many donors became discouraged, even angry, when they heard that units of blood expired and were discarded. We should never feel this way about the outpouring of human kindness on 9-11. For those of us who are healthy, blood is a renewable resource. We were there to give in a time of crisis. We should be proud. We should be thankful.
Collection
Citation
“story10348.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 8, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/19402.