Habitat gives back with blood donations
There was no pain, just the warmth of blood soaking through his jacket. After Habitat for Humanity ReStore manager Rick Young nearly bled to death in a freak accident, blood donations from strangers saved his life.
“There was a blood trail from the back to the front of the store, into the kitchen,” said Young, 57. “It looked like a scene from a horror movie.” To show appreciation for the donors who saved his life, and pass on the favour to others, Habitat employees and volunteers headed to Canadian Blood Services Tuesday and rolled up their sleeves.
They also donated blood in recognition of Giving Tuesday, the first Tuesday after American Thanksgiving, now recognized as an international day of charity. “It’s a beautiful gift of life,” said Marisa Gatfield, territory manager for Canadian Blood Services. “Blood connects us all.”
She said there is a “constant need” for donations.
“The reason is what happened to this gentleman,” said Gatfield. “Accidents happen. I don’t need blood right now. But who’s to say I might not need it an hour from now?” Last year, said Gatfield, more than 14,000 units of blood were shipped to Windsor hospitals. She said a single week of leukemia treatment for one person can require the blood of up to eight donors. The blood from as many as 50 donors is needed to save someone after a car crash.
For Young, it was a broken toilet. On April 1, he and some other people were cleaning up the ReStore yard on Devon Drive. He tossed a cracked toilet into the garbage bin.
“As I saw it break, I turned to walk back to get out of the bin, and a piece came down and slit my arm,” said Young.
The jagged piece of porcelain sliced through his main artery, a thumb tendon and three finger tendons. Blood gushed from his arm.
“I had a full jacket on and gloves,” said Young. “It went through everything. It cut so quickly that I didn’t know it happened until I saw blood coming out everywhere. I was in trouble real quick.” Fortunately for Young, the organization had just finished two days of first aid and CPR training. “One of my co-workers grabbed me right away, took my belt off, put a tourniquet on,” he said. “We took two other tourniquets that we had in a safety kit, put them both on, called the ambulance and waited for the ambulance as the blood was coming out everywhere.” While waiting for paramedics to arrive, Young lost consciousness. He needed an infusion of three pints of blood, an amount requiring donations from three people. The accident changed protocols at Habitat for Humanity, which now requires daily safety reviews and the use of protective Kevlar sleeves, as well as a hopper and lift truck to put things like broken toilets into bins.
But Young, who still has a trail of scars down his forearm and across his wrist, said the accident also made him realize how important it is to be a blood donor. “When you see things go down like this, it really opens up your eyes to the need,” said Young, “Especially this time of year because we’re going into the holidays and people tend to forget about giving to the blood clinics. There are going to be accidents, there are going to be situations around Christmas time. “Habitat tries to give in every way we can. This is just another direction we can help out.”