As the number of coronavirus infections continues to rise, workers in health care and related professions are on the front lines, helping to save lives during an unprecedented pandemic.
For Chris Banziruk, Jackie O’Connor and the members of AFSCME Local 3145 (American Red Cross/Connecticut Blood Services), the challenges of a public health crisis are especially acute.
“It’s definitely concerning. It’s become so much more real,” Banziruk, a Collections Technician and the Local Union’s Vice President of Collections, said. “If I’m sick, I can’t go to work and do the job.”
Local 3145 members are responsible for collecting, processing and transporting blood to local hospitals. It’s grueling work that requires the highest levels of skill, precision under normal circumstances.
The spread of the coronavirus has amplified the importance of protecting the safety of the blood supply.
“There’s a care and a value we put into our work. We do what we do because we love it,” O’Connor, a Licensed Practical Nurse who also serves as the Local Union’s Secretary.
The Red Cross has taken extra precautions to protect staff and donors, such as taking everyone’s temperature before they can even enter a blood drive site, sanitizing surfaces even more frequently, increased social distancing and having donors wear protective gear.
It’s a scary time for Local 3145 members, who prior to the coronavirus outbreak were mobilizing around proposed legislation to protect blood safety in Connecticut. The General Assembly postponed its work prior to a hearing on the raised bill.
Right now, the focus is on getting the job done under extreme circumstances.
“As a nurse you know you may always be exposed to something. It’s always in the back of our minds,” O’Connor said. You could walk into something every day and have it be known or unknown but that doesn’t negate the job we do each day. Fear cannot over rule us doing our job.”
Local 3145 members like Banziruk and O’Connor see themselves as advocates for blood donors and recipients.
O’Connor, for example, got into nursing not only because her mother is a nurse, but because she was born prematurely. “I was saved by a neonatal nurse who was there for me,” she said. Her focus is always on blood safety.
The same goes for Banziruk, a self-described people person who enjoys interacting with donors and putting them at ease.
Local 3145 members strongly encourage their union sisters and brothers who are healthy to give blood to help patients in need.
"In addition to helping other people, blood donation is good for an individual because it is beneficial for the heart, replenishes and creates new blood, and even burns calories; its an oil change for the body that can make it run more efficiently,” Banziruk observed.
Want to support the life-saving work of our highly-skilled and trained union members? Please click here to schedule a Red Cross blood donation appointment.
