Murray • When Red Cross officials in Utah heard that more than 500 people were injured in the Las Vegas shooting massacre Sunday night, they immediately sent a truck full of blood south.
The move “left a lot of empty shelves here, and we need to replenish those empty shelves,” said community volunteer Stan Rosenzweig, so the Red Cross sent out a plea for donors.
And “when a disaster happens, Utahns are first to step forward,” Rosenzweig said. So much so that centers have been overwhelmed, “like a traffic jam at rush hour,” he said.
A Tuesday blood drive at Highland High School ran out of blood bags, and the donor center in Murray had to turn away walk-ins.
The center had the capacity to take about 94 donations Tuesday, and a receptionist said that donors had been coming into the center at about two times that rate. Luckily, she said, most of the walk-ins were understanding and made appointments for later.
Ryan Templeman, of Lehi, was one of the people turned away. He and a coworker took the afternoon off to ride the train down from Salt Lake and donate, he said.
His sister lives in Las Vegas, along with other family members and friends, and although they weren’t injured in the shooting, “they’re bleeding, proverbially speaking. And I can bleed for them, as well.”
“I want to do something,” Templeman said. “Thoughts and prayers, in my opinion, just aren‘t enough.“
Templeman, who is Canadian, would have been a first-time donor to the American Red Cross, he said.
Others at the center Tuesday were also motivated by the Las Vegas attack. It made Beth Defoe, of Salt Lake City, feel “helpless,” she said.
She made an appointment to donate at Highland High School on Tuesday afternoon, but when she arrived at the blood drive, they’d run out of blood bags because “so many people showed up to donate.”
Defoe arrived at the donor center in Murray about half an hour later and then waited another hour and a half for an opening.
“I‘m off work today, so it didn’t matter how long I waited,” Defoe said. The phlebotomists told the woman she was a good candidate for platelet donation, so she made another appointment to donate platelets in three days.
Defoe works for an airline, she said, and when they travel to Las Vegas, they stay at the MGM Grand, near where the shootings took place. Her colleagues are like family, she said, and she was worried for their safety.
While working as a flight attendant, she’d gotten out of the habit of donating blood regularly because she’d sometimes travel to countries that made her ineligible, but the Las Vegas shooting “spurred” her on to get back in the habit.
It had “been a while” since Ryan Bleazard, also of Salt Lake City, had donated, as well, he said. But with all the turmoil and “big problems” facing the world, donating makes him feel like he can help people.
Donors can set up appointments by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS or registering online at redcross.org/blood. They can also use an app to set up appointments and track when they are eligible to donate again, like Salt Lake City’s Brandon Luke.
Luke was in the center Tuesday, for one of the appointments he’s set up regularly for 16 years. He said he’s had family members with health problems, which motivates him to keep coming back.
It is not necessary that the blood supply be replenished overnight, Rosenzweig said, and donations given over the next couple of weeks will help build up Utah’s stores.