Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Introducing "Rotary Community Heroes of Hope" - a podcast dedicated to showcasing the profound impact of Rotary in District 5330 and beyond. Join us as we explore the remarkable stories of rotary heroes and initiatives that are transforming communities and creating hope around the world.
Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Uniting for Life: Rotary's Role in Boosting Blood Donations and Vital Community Support
What happens when a community unites to support life-saving initiatives? Join us as we explore this compelling question with Kevin Taylor from the Palm Springs Sunup Rotary Club, alongside Kim Bollinger from Lifestream Blood Bank and Yvonne Moreno of Hanson House. Discover the importance of local blood donations, particularly in the holiday season when supplies run low, and how you can participate in the upcoming blood drive on November 9th at the Doubletree by Hilton in Cathedral City. Gain insider knowledge from Kim on the donation process, from the mini physical to health questionnaires, and understand the direct impact your contribution has on Southern California hospitals.
Kevin, Kim, and Yvonne also delve into the extraordinary services provided by Hanson House, a beacon of hope for patients and families in the Coachella Valley. As they share stories of serene Spanish-style accommodations and holistic healing environments, you'll learn how community support helps sustain these vital resources. Hear how Rotary Clubs are playing a pivotal role in enhancing health resources through collaborative efforts. Whether you're a Rotarian or a community member, this podcast invites you to become a hero of hope and make a tangible difference this holiday season.
Welcome to the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast. I'm your host, judy Zolfakar, proudly serving as the current district governor for Rotary District 5330. Co-hosting with me is Jamie Zinn, our esteemed immediate past district governor. Heroes of Hope brings to light the remarkable stories of impact from Rotarians within our district. Our episodes shine a spotlight on transformative community projects taking root in our region and extend their reach to initiatives making waves on a global scale. Each story is a testament to the profound influence Rotarians exert on the lives of individuals and communities we are committed to serving. Join us in this inspiring journey. Dive deeper into the world of Rotary with us and witness firsthand the extraordinary ways in which Rotary touches lives, and witness firsthand the extraordinary ways in which Rotary touches lives and reshapes our world. Welcome to the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast, where hope takes center stage and the heroes are the Rotarians among us, turning vision into action. Well, how are you doing today, judy? I'm doing great.
Speaker 2:Good to see you, jamie. Yes, absolutely, and we're going to have a great conversation with our friends from the desert who are experiencing some cooler weather today. That's awesome. They're going to be awesome. Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have a lot to talk about today, so we're going to get right in it. Kevin, thank you and welcome. By the way, just a side note, kevin does all of our scheduling for our podcast. So thank you, thank you, thank you for making, helping our guests get to us and feel so prepared and welcome, and it's a pleasure to be able to talk with you today. So why don't you introduce yourself and tell us what we're talking about?
Speaker 3:Thank you both very much. So I'm Kevin Taylor from the Palm Springs Sunup Rotary Club. We meet Tuesday mornings at seven o'clock, and with us today online are Kim Bollinger from Lifestream, and that's the blood bank, and also Yvonne Moreno from Hanson House, and they'll talk more about that. But we have put together a holiday blood drive for our district and hopefully everyone can come out and help roll up their sleeves and donate blood on Saturday, november 9th. It's going to be held at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Cathedral City and many of our Rotarians may remember that because it used to be the Doral and that's where we used to have our district conferences for several years, and so one of our newest Rotarians in our club happens to be the general manager there and her name is Ebony Stinson and she's been so delightful to host us.
Speaker 3:We just did one last month and we're going to do the one in November. So we'll be back. But this time we're doing something different and in addition to the blood drive, we're looping in Hanson house, and Yvonne can talk about that in just a second. But we're doing a drive as we kind of enter into the holiday season to help fill their pantries, and so that's a little bit about what we're doing, and we want to invite all the Rotarians from the district, or as many as possible, to come and help save lives because, as Kim will mention in a couple minutes, the holiday season is really, really important for getting blood into the blood bank so that we can use it for people who need it.
Speaker 2:So tell us is Kim going to start off with, and let us know exactly how the live stream works and how people can sign up to come out and do this for us.
Speaker 4:Hello, hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to be here with you guys today. So I am with Lifestream Blood Bank. We are out of San Bernardino, california. We're a regional blood bank. We service and work with 80 hospitals within our region. When you donate with Lifestream Blood Bank, your donation stays here within the Southern California region. We don't ship it off anywhere.
Speaker 4:We are currently working with the Sunrise Sunup Rotary Club here in Palm Springs. We're so proud of our partnership. We had a very productive drive this last month and raised was it seven hundred dollars, I believe, for the club and for the services that they're going to provide to your local community. So we're hoping to do that again in november and um bringing another non-profit, a very worthy organization, on board, and we're just looking forward to being able to service the hospitals, keep the blood on the shelves Summer, this summer in particular, where the heat has been difficult on our equipment and people don't like to come out and donate.
Speaker 4:Sometimes when it's a little warm, it's uncomfortable. So as we head into fall, people are back from vacation, schools are back in session, so we're hoping that everybody will come out and participate. It's so important to to donate blood and to make sure that we have the resources we need for the people who desperately are in need of it. So we just so much appreciate kevin and all his good works and couldn't ask for a better partner, a better sponsor. He's just so enthusiastic, as you know, but yeah, we're looking forward to a very successful event.
Speaker 2:So tell us, Kim, what could someone expect when they come out to give blood. So we know that they'll show up there, but what should they expect the process to be?
Speaker 4:Well, what's nice about donating blood is you do a little mini physical, you answer a health questionnaire so we have a general idea of what the status of your health is, but then we check your iron level and we make sure that your efficiency as far as iron goes is at a good level for donation. You got your blood pressure checked and your temperature, your heart rate, and again you get a little mini physical, and so that's another perk, along with I think we're giving away a t-shirt this time around, so that'll be also an added benefit. But you come in, you fill out a form, we give you a physical. The actual donation process itself only takes about 10 minutes 10 to 12 minutes depending on the individual and then, when you're done, we set you up, we give you a snack, we keep an eye on you for a few minutes to make sure that you're good to go. Doesn't take longer than maybe 40 minutes, and you save three lives, so you don't wake up every Saturday morning and do that.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a well spent 40 minutes, right, if you're saving lives.
Speaker 4:I like to say, especially during the holiday season give the gift that keeps on giving.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 4:There's nothing more important than helping others and giving back to your community, so what a great way to do that.
Speaker 3:And it is a great way also just because a lot of people you know, when you talk about giving back to your communities, it's very easy for people to write a check.
Speaker 3:This is a great way because you can't manufacture blood so to be able to give that gift of someone who you may never even know.
Speaker 3:And then the other thing I just want to jump in and because kind of Kim didn't mention it yet, but you know, when we have catastrophes or really solid emergencies where people run to the blood bank because the blood is, you know, I'm going to go donate blood because I need it there right now, there's a three day process. It doesn't just show up on the shelf the same day you donate it. So that's why donating blood is really important, to do that on a regular basis, because if there's a major earthquake and they need the blood supply, it's not going to happen the day you donate it. And we want to be, you know, thinking forward and not having to be reactionary, saying, oh my God, we're low. And then the other thing that happens too is that if they are low on blood supplies, then the hospitals may have to cancel some procedures because there's not enough to go through with an operation or something like that.
Speaker 1:They have to prioritize. It was interesting we had on a podcast earlier our community services person, chuck Weisbart, and talking about how to prepare for disaster right and all the different things that you can do, and it's interesting that I didn't even think about this one in that part of the preparation is to give blood often so that there is not a crisis when there is a crisis, because when there's a crisis, because when there's a crisis, there's oftentimes not the ability to give blood and, like you said, not the timing, because if it takes three days to turn it around, then that's not going to be very helpful when we're in the middle of an earthquake or a fire.
Speaker 3:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:So I really like the collaboration that I'm seeing here, also with Rotary, with the Blood Bank. And can we have Yvonne talk a little bit about Hanson House and how Hanson House comes into this particular event and this day and how you guys are all collaborating together?
Speaker 5:Absolutely Well. Hello, my name is Yvonne Moreno, the Executive Director of Hanson House, and, as I'm sitting here and hearing already the information that is being shared, you're right, it is a great collaboration that we have here with the Rotary and also with the Bled Blank Hanson House. As you know, we are an affordable lodging facility, a home away from home, and we provide affordable, cost to no cost rooms for cancer patients when they are undergoing treatment, as well as families that have a loved one in trauma or a baby in NICU. They stay with us for sometimes an average of seven to nine days to. We've seen certain, you know, situations where we've had families there to up to six to seven months, and how we all collaborate is that one.
Speaker 5:We all know that the patients that stay with us, which are our guests, but also going to the cancer center to get their treatment, they also rely on that blood from the blood bank. And for us, you know, with the collaboration that Kevin, of course, you know who I adore for doing this already of the food drive for us. We serve families and right now we're coming off of this, this high demand, where we had families from all over of the east valley and beyond, where our pantry couldn't even stay stocked for an average of five days, and that said a lot to me and so I started working and outreaching, you know, for for us to continue to serve and provide a full pantry to the families. So all of our efforts together is basically the collaborative effort.
Speaker 3:Just one thing too, just so you know, the House is actually located on the campus of Desert Regional Medical Center, so they are adjacent to the hospital. So those families who have, you know, patients staying in the hospital, whether they're in NICU or in cancer, can literally walk across the parking lot from Hanson House and be with them by their side. And to Yvonne's point as well, they do, you know, if they have someone lifelighted in for a trauma, injury or emergency. That's another great way, because not everyone can afford, you know, to be able to afford a hotel and you know, like she said, it could be a week long or maybe months long, depending on the severity of the situation and the person in the trauma unit. But it's, they are right on the campus of Desert Regional Medical Center.
Speaker 5:And you know, and, as you guys, then need listening to your guys' stories as well we are also a center, and a lot of folks don't know this because we are a gem in the desert, but we are very unique in the healthcare community. Especially for like emergencies, for situations with the crisis, especially in Big Bear, we had, you know, people that were being relocated. Well, for us, we had cancer patients that were that live up there and they had to come down for treatment and were concerned that they couldn't make it. Well, we are that, that unique location where they can go to as well. So I just wanted to state that as well, and we are on campus, which makes it a lot easier. We're literally like a walk away from both the hospital and the cancer center.
Speaker 2:What an amazing program they have, Don't you agree?
Speaker 1:Judy, absolutely. It's so necessary when families are in need, and especially if you have to come a long distance to come in, you just don't want to leave, you don't want to be far away, whether you're the patient or the family of the patient. This is a very valuable resource to those families as they're going through these issues.
Speaker 2:Yvonne, can you tell us how an individual who might need your services can go about getting in contact with you? And then also, besides providing a place for them to sleep and to stay during those time frames, do you provide other services counseling or providing them meals? What other things do you do?
Speaker 5:Absolutely so.
Speaker 5:We are on a referral basis and because we are on the Desert Regional Campus, we also serve as a first-come, first-served basis on referral base.
Speaker 5:So a lot of the referrals come from the hospital, from the social workers there, as well as from our cancer centers here in the Coachella Valley and actually sometimes even from the Blythe Center, blythe area and Imperial Valley. We receive the referrals from those locations just so that we can ensure that they are patients that are in need of our services because they are seeking medical care. So there is a referral basis. They can always contact the Hanson House if they are. Say, if it's a patient and they're concerned, I'm going to have a surgery at this location here. I wonder if I can stay there because I don't want to drive two hours away and I don't have that gas money because they're on a budget. Well, you know what, when we have that availability again, we are for the community. We work with them because that's what the mission is is to ensure that these families and our patients here in the Coachella Valley are seeking the care and are thriving because we have our resources available to them. That's great.
Speaker 2:It's amazing that their recuperation period and their treatment period goes along so much smoother and in a positive nature because of providing this support system for them.
Speaker 5:Absolutely. Since I've been there it's been two and a half years and I have testimonies after testimonies and this is why I'm such an advocate of what we're doing there and the vision that you know, we as a board of directors and myself see there. But yes, I see families thrive together. When a family has that opportunity to be rested during a stressful moment, when it's not just their loved one in the hospital, but it's also what is beyond that, what comes after the financial burdens, you know, restarting again. Well, no one really takes that into consideration. That the families also have to go through that, you know. And so they go through it together with their loved one. So while they're there, they're resting.
Speaker 5:We have a beautiful, beautiful property with it, where it has like an oasis feel to it, very tranquil, has a chapel, three patios, 15 fountains, there's 15 casitas. The rooms are inviting. It has that Spanish style feel. Our late Dr Erkley knew what he was building when he put this together. So families are resting. We have a library where there can access books to read.
Speaker 5:I honestly didn't think people would want to even do that during a circumstances where they're in, where their loved one is in, you know, receiving care for trauma. But they do that. There there's the property, lends itself to a sense of hope by what we have there with the amenities, and we have a lot of families that tell us, and even the patient, when the mom is cooking in the kitchen, after the patient is able and they're recovering and we have a family there they cook a whole meal, take it to the hospital. We've had stories where a patient has come to our property and thanked us.
Speaker 5:You know, if it wasn't for you guys being next door and my mom cooking these whole meals, I don't know how I would have continued, you know, thriving and getting better. But it's, you know, it's a blessing to have you guys there. So that right there has allowed us to really measure what we're doing and what we can do, because we are the only ones here in the Coachella Valley and we work with everyone in the community. Again, you know it is a first come, first serve. We are at Desert Regional. Majority of our patients are from trauma and cancer centers locally, but we do expand to other centers as well.
Speaker 1:And this connection with family is definitely part of the healing process, which helps you know it helps the person heal quicker and better and then gives the opportunity for them to go home where they can continue their journey. So, kevin, can you tell us how can somebody get involved in this event? Where would they go to to sign up to be a part of the blood drive, and what do they need to bring along to help Hanson House.
Speaker 3:Okay, so for this one, for Hanson House, let's just go with non-perishable food items.
Speaker 3:They can take others, but since we're going to be sitting there for a while, let's just go with non-perishable food items, things that are easy to unpack and, you know, be not refrigerated. For this time You're going to come to the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel. It's in Cathedral City, on the Vista, chino and Landau. We'll be in the Canyon Room and if people want to sign up for the blood drive, which that would be a yes, um, they go to lstreamorg backslash cathedral and that is going to list the cathedral city blood drives. Just click on the one that says rotary club of palm springs, sunup, and they can also make an appointment if they want to call 1-800-879-4484 and you can do it that way too or also visit our Palm Springs website, the Palm Springs Sunup Club's website.
Speaker 3:And before I go I want to make Kim come back in for a second or ask her because if you don't live within the Valley here, let's say it's one of our Rotary Clubs, who's in Temecula or, you know, out in Riverside book a blood drive, because as we get into the holiday season, much like summer, the blood supply does get very crucial because people travel. So, kim, why don't you tell them how to book a?
Speaker 4:blood drive and the importance of that as well. We, yes, please. Thank you very much for that plug, kevin, because I sure do appreciate that we are happy to work with anybody. We are regional, so we are looking for connections within the Palm Springs area, san Bernardino, la County. We go all over the Southern California region.
Speaker 4:So to book a blood drive, as Kevin just said, you would go to the Red Cross excuse me, excuse me, the Lifestream website, and that's lifestream website and that's blooddonorsatlifestreamorg, and you can get in the Lifestream Donate Now portal and sign up and you can also get information there At that site. We have several different centers throughout the region or you can call 1-800-879-4484 and you can book a drive. That way They'll direct you to the appropriate account manager and get that set up for you. So, as far as what you would need to bring on our end, we would just need a photo ID and that showed your name and your, your face, and we would need to have you complete what we call an express pass, and that's the little mini physical that we have people do the day of the blood drive and that, just again, ensures that you're healthy and ready to donate blood. So it's those two things.
Speaker 4:It's interesting, piggybacking on what Yvonne said, it's nice that you, you know what a wonderful thing that you're offering people, just in those situations, just even a glimpse of normalcy and home. That's just such a great thing that you're doing and I, just I have and even listening, just have an even deeper appreciation for what we're partnering with. So thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 2:Kim, I have a question for you. We down here in Temecula have a Lifestream location and some of our viewers or viewers, hello listeners might want to know. The answer to this question is that they currently are donating down through the Temecula area. When we donate blood through the Temecula area, does that blood stay in the Temecula area? Blood stay in the Temecula area or like, for example, if we donated blood up in the Palm Desert through this event coming up, will it stay up there?
Speaker 4:It's my understanding I don't work in the lab portion of that or the distribution portion of it it's my understanding that you know we have a bank and our main it's our main hub is San Bernardino and obviously if we had people that were donated in Temecula and somebody in Ontario was in need of blood and we didn't have the resources available, we would be providing as needed. It's a life saving. I don't think somebody that's donated in Temecula said no, don't do that.
Speaker 4:That's donated in Chemekula say no, don't do that, I don't want that person in Ontario saved, but we, I believe, do our best to keep our resources within the areas that they're donated to, but obviously our job is to save lives within our region as needed. So, yeah, that's a good question. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3:Another nice thing, too, is if we have first-time blood donors and you're questioning like I don't know what type I am for my blood, once you make that first donation, you'll be put into the system and you can sign up on their live stream app and you'll be told they'll tag you so that you know what type of blood you have. So for future, if you want to, that's one way to do that, and if your blood is used for someone to save a life, you would get a notification that your blood helps save so-and-so's life. So the nice thing is about being altruistic and stepping up to the plate and making these donations and doing something to help save lives for someone you may never ever meet.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's the rotary way we do whatever we can to help out that impact that you may never see, but you know that it's out there in the world. Well, thank you all for joining us today. Any final thoughts?
Speaker 3:before we wrap up this episode, I'm going to donate blood on Saturday, november 9th, at the Bloodstream, the Lifestream Blood Drive out in Palm Springs.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, thank you all. We look forward to publishing this up and we hope you share it with others in your circle of influence so that we can get the word out to come and join you on November 9th. Awesome, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:So that wraps up this episode of Heroes of Hope. We are so happy that we have an audience out there listening. We want you to subscribe, share and tell your friends about the Rotary Community Heroes of Hope, because that's how we get the word out about the impact we're having in this world.