NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / July 19, 2024 / Leidos
Leidos has partnered with the American Red Cross for nearly eight years through blood donation drives, disaster relief, board leadership, kit building for homeless veterans and more. Leidos also launched blood drives at our Columbia, Maryland, and Reston, Virginia headquarters starting in October 2015. World Blood Donor Day, celebrated on June 14th, serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.
A Legacy of Blood Donation
After launching in Columbia and Reston, blood drives became a key engagement tradition for our employees. San Diego employees have worked with the San Diego Blood Bank, and we've offered virtual "Sleeves-Up Drives" for extra convenience.
Core to our commitment to inclusion, we partnered with the African American Leidos Network (AALN) ERG to sponsor a sickle-cell anemia drive in September of 2022. One hundred thousand people in the U.S. are living with sickle cell disease, most of whom are African American or of African descent. The disease affects 1 out of every 365 African American babies born in this country. Partnering with AALN brought attention to the urgent need for blood donors who are Black.
In April of this year, the Red Cross and the Leidos Pride ERG hosted an informational webinar to walk through the history of the FDA guidelines of blood donation, how the FDA has made changes to the latest set of guidelines and what that means for the LGBTQ+ community. The goal is to shed light on the stigma of blood donation within the community and offer answers to decades old questions around the topic.
Paris Davis, Principal Proposal Coordinator Lead, and a regular donor, stated that "knowing that my blood donations, especially as a CEK-negative donor, can help people with sickle cell disease manage their condition is incredibly rewarding. Donating blood is a simple act that can have a big impact on someone's life."
Convenient and Critical
Since 2016, Leidos has hosted 31 blood drives for more than one thousand donors including 171 first time donors and collected 926 units of blood at GHQ. Hosting blood drives at GHQ has made it easier for Leidos employees and local community residents, to give.
Beyond convenience, Leidos employees are motivated by the inherent value of blood donation. With nearly 30,000 units of blood needed each day, the American Red Cross is continually in need of donors. One pint of blood can save up to three lives. Even during a global pandemic, Leidos committed to diminishing the national blood crisis, collecting 278 units from 2020-2021.
"It is such an easy way to do something bigger than yourself for someone else," said Deputy General Counsel, Erica Bomsey. She recalled the aftermath of 9/11, when the desire to help overwhelmed donation centers. "It is a small act that can have a big impact. Having [blood drives] outside the office door makes it so easy! That small act is magnified into a large act when there are so many of us that can do so at once."
Blood donation is one of the most direct and personally significant forms of giving that we can participate in as members of our local and international communities.
Making a Difference, One Donation at a Time
Not only is donating blood so important, but the process is very quick, only taking about 20 minutes for the physical donation. For perspective, if just 1% more of all Americans would donate, blood shortages "would disappear for the foreseeable future."
By fostering convenient donation opportunities, championing inclusivity, and educating employees about the critical need for blood, Leidos empowers its workforce to make a life-saving difference.
Blood Donation Fast Facts:
Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood.
Blood is needed by women with complications during pregnancy and childbirth, children with severe anemia, often resulting from malaria or malnutrition, accident victims, surgical and cancer patients.
Regular blood donation by a sufficient number of healthy people is needed to ensure that blood will always be available whenever and wherever it is needed.
While the need for blood is universal, access to blood is not. Blood shortages are acute in low- and middle-income countries.
Approximately 29,000 units of red blood cells are needed every day in the U.S.
Only about 3% of age-eligible people donate blood yearly
View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Leidos on 3blmedia.com.
Contact Info:
Spokesperson: Leidos
SOURCE: Leidos
马萨诸塞州北安普敦/ACCESSWIRE/2024 年 7 月 19 日/Leidos
莱多斯通过献血活动、救灾、董事会领导、为无家可归的退伍军人制作装备等,与美国红十字会合作了近八年。Leidos还从2015年10月开始在我们的马里兰州哥伦比亚和弗吉尼亚州雷斯顿的总部发起了献血活动。6月14日庆祝的世界献血者日旨在提高人们对安全血液和血液制品需求的认识,并感谢自愿无偿献血者捐赠的挽救生命的血液。
献血的遗产
在哥伦比亚和雷斯顿启动后,献血活动成为我们员工的重要参与传统。圣地亚哥的员工曾与圣地亚哥血库合作,为了提供更多便利,我们提供了虚拟的 “SleevesUp Drives”。
2022年9月,我们与非裔美国人莱多斯网络(AALN)ERG合作,赞助了一项镰状细胞贫血活动,这是我们对包容性承诺的核心。美国有十万人患有镰状细胞病,其中大多数是非裔美国人或非洲裔美国人。在该国出生的每365名非裔美国人婴儿中,就有1人受到这种疾病的影响。与AALN合作引起了人们对黑人献血者的迫切需求的关注。
今年4月,红十字会和Leidos Pride ERG举办了一场信息网络研讨会,以了解美国食品药品管理局献血指南的历史、FDA如何修改最新指南以及这对LGBTQ+社区意味着什么。目标是揭示社区内献血的耻辱,并围绕该主题为数十年来一直存在的问题提供答案。
首席提案协调员兼定期捐血者巴黎·戴维斯表示:“知道我的献血,尤其是作为CEK阴性捐献者,可以帮助镰状细胞病患者控制病情,这真是令人难以置信的回报。献血是一个简单的行为,可以对某人的生活产生重大影响。”
方便又关键
自2016年以来,莱多斯为包括171名首次献血者在内的一千多名献血者举办了31次献血活动,并在GHQ收集了926个单位的血液。在GHQ举办献血活动使Leidos员工和当地社区居民更容易捐款。
除了便利之外,Leidos 员工还受到献血固有价值的激励。由于每天需要近30,000单位的血液,美国红十字会持续需要捐赠者。一品脱的血最多可以挽救三条生命。即使在全球疫情期间,莱多斯也承诺减少全国血液危机,从2020-2021年起收集了278个单位。
副总法律顾问埃里卡·博姆西说:“为别人做比自己更大的事情是一种非常简单的方法。”她回忆起9/11事件的后果,当时帮助的愿望使捐赠中心不堪重负。“这是一个小举动,可以产生很大的影响。在办公室门外进行 [献血] 非常简单!当我们当中有这么多人可以同时做时,这个小行为就会被放大为一个大动作。”
献血是我们作为当地和国际社会成员可以参与的最直接、最具个人意义的捐赠形式之一。
一次捐款,有所作为
捐血不仅如此重要,而且过程非常快,捐血只需要大约 20 分钟。从角度来看,如果所有美国人中仅增加1%的人捐款,血液短缺 “将在可预见的将来消失”。
通过提供便捷的捐赠机会、倡导包容性和教育员工了解对血液的迫切需求,Leidos赋予其员工权力,使他们能够挽救生命。
献血速览:
美国每两秒钟就有人需要血液。
怀孕和分娩期间出现并发症的妇女、患有严重贫血(通常由疟疾或营养不良引起的儿童)、事故受害者、手术和癌症患者需要血液。
需要足够数量的健康人定期献血,以确保随时随地有需要的血液可用。
尽管对血液的需求是普遍的,但获得血液的途径却不是。低收入和中等收入国家的血液短缺非常严重。
美国每天需要大约 29,000 个单位的红细胞
每年只有大约 3% 的符合年龄条件的人献血
在3blmedia.com上查看来自Leidos的更多多媒体和更多ESG故事。
联系信息:
发言人:莱多斯
来源:Leidos