Dole Urges Latinos to Donate Blood : Charity: Red Cross president cites severe shortage locally of the ethnic group’s primary type.

American Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole said Tuesday that the need for blood donors in Los Angeles is severe, especially among Latino residents.

Dole told a luncheon gathering of Latino media representatives that the Red Cross is launching new efforts to encourage more Latino residents to donate blood. Although Latinos use great amounts of donated blood, there is a chronic shortage of the blood group used most by Latinos and others in emergencies, she said.

“The situation is very serious,” Dole said during a brief presentation in recognition of American Red Cross Month. “Latinos particularly can give that gift of life.”

Red Cross officials said a large percentage of Latinos has Group O blood, which is frequently used to treat patients in emergencies when the victim’s blood group cannot be identified. About 60% to 70% of Latinos, compared to less than half of the general population, has Group O blood, officials said.

Officials said that although 34% of the population in Los Angeles and Orange counties is Latino, only about 15% of those who donate blood through the Red Cross identify themselves as Latinos.

Manuel Rivas, a spokesman for the Los Angeles chapter of the American Red Cross, said that during the last year only about 160,000 people out of about 13 million residents in the two counties donated blood to the Red Cross.

Dole, wife of Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kan.), a GOP presidential candidate, said the Red Cross has not done well in communicating to the Latino community the need to donate. She said the agency is trying to reach the Latino community through various means, including hiring more Latino nurses and fieldworkers who can communicate in Spanish when necessary.

She said the outreach to Latinos is part of an overall push to encourage more people of all ethnic groups to donate blood.

Rivas said current recruiting efforts include trying to dispel concerns that potential donors may have about giving blood. Officials say, for example, that there is no possibility of contracting the AIDS virus by donating blood because each needle is sterile when used and then is discarded. Donors, who must be at least 17, can expect the process to take about an hour.

Louis D. Velasquez, assistant director of the Oficina de Ministerio Hispanos of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said the archdiocese and its churches are among the places committed to helping the Red Cross. There are plans to have donating stations at churches.

Red Cross officials encouraged anyone wanting information to telephone the Red Cross at (800) 448-3543.