It's in their Blood to Save Lives

On July 20, 2010 Fire Station 87 hosted what will hopefully become an epic annual blood drive to benefit Randall Opperman III, son of Randall Opperman Jr. and grandson of Randall Opperman Sr.

“Randall III” was born on July 5th at Antelope Valley Hospital. There were, however, complications during his delivery and Randall III was in a fight for his life battling Meconium Aspiration Syndrome. He was transferred to Children’s Hospital for advanced care and ultimately a full “ECMO” blood treatment. A special notice went out immediately and a couple days later a dozen of our folks here at 87’s went down to Children’s Hospital to donate their blood.

After donating, Mario Gonzalez came back with the idea of bringing the Mobile Blood Donation Unit to Fire Station 87 to make it easier for other members in the Valley to donate. Mario recruited Kenny Breskin, and after securing the appropriate permission, it was off to the races with only a week and a half to get things done. There was work to be done, donations were needed and calls to be made. Mario and Kenny never looked back. They took it upon themselves to make this blood drive at 87’s a success. The idea was to thank the members for donating by cooking them breakfast and lunch in appreciation for their time. Both members worked on securing generous donations from Ralphs Grocery Store, Starbucks, Western Bagel, UFLAC and the Relief Association.

With the members from 87’s doing the cooking, we were ready to roll. We had 35 lbs. of tri-tip for lunch, pancakes, sausage, bagels and fruit for breakfast and of course, coffee from Starbucks all day. Thanks again for all the people who helped behind the scenes. A lot of effort by some good people really helped make the difference. Standard!!!

Rudy Gonzalez, the head blood guy from Children’s was a little worried in the morning when the Blood Mobile showed up at 87’s. It seems he had put his job on the line by actually closing the Blood Donation Unit at Children’s Hospital for the day to bring his entire staff here to 87’s. Based on the number of people calling to say they were coming to the station it was evident that the normal staffing on the Blood Mobile would be tremendously overwhelmed. So only by closing the Unit at the Hospital - and possibly losing donations there - would the whole staff be able to come to 87’s. Rudy was willing to take the gamble. Thank goodness he did!

The event started at 0730 and never slowed downed. A big “Thank You” goes out to all the members and civilians that patiently waited in line for sometimes up to 45 minutes to donate. Even with all their hospital staff here, there was still a wait, but nobody complained. Rudy’s gamble paid off. Almost 200 people showed up that morning and we put a total of 140 pints of blood in the bank! Rudy and his staff were elated. He said that this was the best they have ever done. Never, did they imagine it would be so successful. Keep in mind that each pint of blood helps up to 3 babies. So your 140 pints of blood will have the potential to help up to 420 babies (sorry, had to do the math for the A/O’s). Your donations will make a difference!

In closing, an outstanding show of camaraderie from all the members who brought it all together and to all the members that stepped up to donate. It’s good to see that our tradition of helping each other out in times of need is not forgotten. NEVER FORGET! For those that couldn’t donate you still can at Children’s Hospital in “honor of” Randall Opperman III. Hopefully next year you’ll be able to join us here at 87’s. We are working to make this an annual event.