Las Vegas volunteer finds rewarding work in helping drive mission to save lives

Steve Marcus

American Red Cross volunteer driver Jerry Runyon unloads boxes from a van at Red Cross offices following a delivery on Wednesday July 21, 2021.

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez (contact)

Tuesday, September 7, 2021 | 2 a.m

Jerry Runyon keeps saying “opportunity” when referring to his volunteer work by delivering life-saving blood to hospitals in the area.

Once a week he can be seen outside the headquarters of the American Red Cross of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, where he is loading boxes of blood donations, which can weigh up to 45 pounds, into a small van.

For the Illinois retiree and newly transplanted, volunteering is an opportunity to be productive in his free time and to give back to his new community.

More importantly, it is an opportunity to know that he is doing something that the relieved faces of the medical staff prove when he comes to the hospital, saying things like, “Thank God you’re here” and “We are.” are glad you came like this ”. quick, ”he said.

This positive reinforcement couldn’t be more real than it is now, as southern Nevada, like the rest of the United States, is experiencing a severe shortage of blood donations.

Through blood drives, the Red Cross provides approximately 40% of the country’s blood inventory and supplies 2,500 hospitals and transfusion centers, including 14 facilities in southern Nevada. The need arises from a return of operations postponed during the pandemic and an increase in trauma center activity, the organization said.

With a positive demeanor and a smile on his face, Runyon, who has 150 blood donations up his sleeve, does his part. He is one of around 30 transport specialists from the Red Cross here, which, according to a spokeswoman, has space for 45 other volunteers like him.

Henderson’s Runyon provided blood to the organization for six years, five of them in Illinois, before he and his 38-year-old wife, whom he met in kindergarten, moved here last July.

“When they found out I was moving there,” joked the 62-year-old, “they didn’t leave me out.”

Prospective transport employees go through online and face-to-face training courses in which, among other things, they learn defensive driving. Once they’re ready to hit the road, more experienced drivers will accompany them before being given their own routes.

At the Red Cross, “I’m having too much fun,” said Runyon. In addition to driving his routes, he got to know and appreciate the large, “new” community for him.

Runyon appears every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Red Cross blood bank. After lab technicians pack the blood products that will be shipped from Utah to be tested, he’s on his way to five hospitals. He also supplies Pahrump.

“I really don’t need a lot of time,” he said. “And I enjoy it; I like to drive.”

At the Illinois Red Cross, he said he saw retirees in their 80s volunteering and hinted that there is still a lot of volunteering left to do.

Runyon was born and raised on a small farm near Peoria, Illinois. Driven by this acquired knowledge, he earned a degree in animal science.

That led him to Abbott Laboratories, which had a research farm, he said. At the Illinois-based company he found a “varied” career, including in the product development and diagnostics department, in which his wife also worked.

During his 33 years with Abbott, he learned about the Red Cross, which was a customer of the company, and his mission is “very familiar”.

Having found himself freshly retired and still healthy, “relatively young” and with an active lifestyle, Runyon did not hesitate to volunteer for the Red Cross as soon as he found the opportunity, he said.

And it’s not just there; he and his wife do regular volunteer work in their Sun City Anthem community. Indeed, it is the spirit they have ingrained in their two children: their son served in the U.S. Marines, and their daughter is a civil servant in Wisconsin, where she has a job in the community associated with a mental health department.

“We like to do it,” he said.

The way Runyon sees it, anyone can volunteer. “I think everyone has some time in their life,” he said.

He persuaded a recently retired brother to take the same position with the Illinois Red Cross that he had done a few months ago.

Runyon has also spoken to an accountant brother-in-law who is about to retire and told him the Red Cross could certainly use his talents.

Runyon’s interactions with hospital staff keep him going the most.

“When you can do that, you feel good,” he said. “It’s very inspiring. … I know that I urgently need (blood) and to be able to do my part is simply good for me. “

Prospective volunteers can find more information at redcross.org.

Requirements for transportation specialists include a valid Nevada driver’s license, three years of driving experience and a clean driving log, and the ability to lift 45 pounds, the organization said.