Blood Diversity Summit promotes having an ethnically diverse blood bank

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A blood transfusion can be the difference between life and death for someone injured in combat or someone suffering from a genetic blood disease, and not everyone knows what they can do to help.

That’s why American Red Cross hosted a Blood Diversity Summit at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Wilmington on Saturday.

The mission of the summit was to educate and promote the benefits of having an ethnically diverse blood bank to faith-based and community leaders in the African American and Latino communities of Cape Fear.

Dr. Luis Arce is an Afghanistan combat veteran and trauma physician, and now works as an anesthesiologist at New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

He explained that receiving a blood donation can be a complicated process, and that not only does the donor need to have the same blood type as the receiver, but sometimes being of the same ethnicity can be helpful too.

“There are different blood types among minorities,” Arce said. “So when someone is in need for that blood type, receiving the blood type that is necessary according to their type is very very important. People do much better, complications are less when the same type of blood is given.”

Dr. Arce, American Red Cross and Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church are encouraging every able bodied person of every race to donate blood at your next local blood drive.