With the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 approaching, many are reminded of the importance of reaching out to help those in need during dire situations.
Assemblyman Dan Losquadro took that lesson to heart 10 years ago. He has since then been dedicated to a cause he believes is the easiest and fastest way for a person to help: donating blood.
The Sept. 11 attacks hit especially close to home for Losquadro; his neighbor Kevin Williams was working on the 101st floor of the one of the towers and was lost in the attacks.
“I knew we hadn’t heard from Kevin, and I remember standing out in the road with my neighbors, feeling just completely helpless,” said Losquadro, then a State Farm insurance agent. “So I went up to Mather and I donated blood. I felt like I was doing something.”
After his election to the Suffolk County Legislature in 2003, Losquadro began hosting community blood drives — more than a dozen to date. “It was out of that very negative day almost 10 years ago that I became a champion for the cause,” said Losquadro.
Losquadro’s latest blood drive took place at the Riverhead Free Library yesterday, where he was demonstrating the ALYX system of automated red blood cell donation, which allows the donor to donate twice as many red blood cells in one donation.
“They’re able to use the constituent components to help a lot more people than a regular whole blood donation,” said Losquadro. Because it takes twice the amount of red blood cells, it also takes twice the amount of time, and the amount of time between donations is doubled as well.
Losquadro hopes that his blood drives will encourage people to come out and participate in this life-saving cause.
“I think everyone’s lives have been touched by someone who’s had cancer,” he said. “Car accidents also happen unfortunately very often, especially during the summer months. People need blood on a regular basis.”
“Chances are you know someone that is going to need blood,” said Losquadro. “And it’s a really important thing to be able to help people in those situations.”
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