Congressman Lance Stops By Overlook Blood Drive

Congressman Leonard Lance (NJ-07) stopped by Overlook Hospital's community blood drive this afternoon to help curb a summer blood shortage. Hospital President Alan Lieber was also on hand to donate platelets.

Lance, who helped organize the drive with Overlook, could not give blood himself as his last donation was 52 days earlier. Federal regulations require 56 days between blood donations.

Lance has been a regular donor for much of his adult life, something he attributes to knowing what it's like when someone you love needs blood and can't get it. Lance's late mother was AB negative, a very rare blood type, and when she became ill when Lance was a child it was hard to find blood to give her. She died when Lance and his twin brother were 12.

"I try to practice what I preach" he said. "Anyone who is capable of giving blood should consider doing so."

Overlook had received about 10 donations as of 1 p.m. and was expecting to hit 20 by 3 p.m. when the drive ended, said Loretta Ferrara, blood donor recruiter for Atlantic Health. A typical day only yields 3 or 4 donations.

What hospital president Lieber donated were platelets, the part of the blood that is essential for clotting. "It's like liquid gold," Ferrara said, hinting at the goldish yellow hue of the platelets in Lieber's collection bag.

Platelets are needed for cancer patients who have undergone chemotherapy treatment.

"The chemotherapy kills the cancer, but it also kills some of the good cells," Ferrara said.

Overlook uses a machine that, through a spinning process, can separate the platelets from a person's blood and then return the blood back to the donor. This process of platelet donation takes longer than whole blood donation but is less painful, she said.

Lieber has donated platelets before and confirmed the procedure is not painful.

"I just believe in blood donation and we are asking our employees to donate and I like to lead by example," he said.