- Slug: Cronkite News 2 Go
- Runtime: 6:18
- Downloadable audio here. (Note: Some web browsers may not support media download.
(Music)
THIS IS YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2GO BRIEFING.
(Bring up music briefly and duck below and out )
I’M JOHN BROWN
Arizona grapples with country’s worst blood shortage in a decade (Kirsten Dorman)
HOST INTRO:
THE COUNTRY IS FACING THE WORST BLOOD SHORTAGE IN OVER A DECADE. SHORTAGES ARE RELATIVELY COMMON BUT THE ONGOING PANDEMIC, BAD WEATHER AND THE HOLIDAY SEASON HAVE LED TO CANCELED BLOOD DRIVES. CRONKITE NEWS’SKIRSTEN (kur-sten) DORMAN REPORTS THE AMERICAN RED CROSS HAS DECLARED A NATIONAL BLOOD CRISIS.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
NORMALLY, IT’S PREFERABLE TO HAVE A FIVE DAY SUPPLY OF BLOOD ON THE SHELF. THAT’S ACCORDING TO COURTNEY SLANAKER. SHE’S THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE RED CROSS SOUTHERN ARIZONA CHAPTER. LATELY, SHE SAYS, THEY’VE HAD A SUPPLY FOR ABOUT A DAY OR LESS.
(3:37) COURTNEY SLANAKER: “It’s really the- the worst blood shortage we’ve seen in over a decade, so that tells you something about where the blood supply is- is resting right now.”
THIS TIME OF YEAR IS USUALLY MORE CHALLENGING. BLOOD DRIVES GET CANCELED BECAUSE OF EVERYTHING FROM WEATHER TO COVID-19. THAT’S ACCORDING TO SUE THEW, WITH VITALANT. THAT’S ARIZONA’S LARGEST NONPROFIT INDEPENDENT BLOOD PROVIDER. THEW SAYS BLOOD DRIVES AREN’T HAPPENING LIKE THEY USED TO.
SUE THEW: “[P]rior to the pandemic, we were running about 300 blood drives every single month across the state of Arizona … Right now, we’re down by about one third, or about 100 blood drives a month, lower than what we were before the pandemic. ”
IN ARIZONA MORE PEOPLE ARE STEPPING UP TO GIVE BLOOD.
(0:47) RICHARD O’CONNOR: “There are some people that can’t donate, so I try to make up for those that can’t.”
RICHARD O’CONNOR HAS BEEN GIVING BLOOD FOR 45 YEARS. HE SAYS HE DOES IT BECAUSE IT’S HIS CIVIC DUTY.
(1:22) RICHARD O’CONNOR: “There are a lot of people in need, and hopefully people will be there if I ever need blood.”
SLANAKER SAYS THAT WITH MORE PEOPLE LIKE O’CONNOR DONATING BLOOD, IT’S CREATED A CHALLENGE TO GET PEOPLE BOOKED.
(17:07) COURTNEY SLANAKER: “We need more blood drive sponsors … that sign up to actually host a blood drive with us, and so … the only way we can do that is through partnerships with a community.”then there’s a location where all these donors that are ready to donate have a spot to do so.”
VITALANT IS ALSO OFFERING VIRTUAL BLOOD DRIVES.
A HYPERLINK UNIQUE TO THE ORGANIZATION ‘HOSTING’ THE DRIVE IS SENT TO PARTICIPANTS. THEW SAYS THEY CAN THEN DONATE AT ANY VITALANT DONATION CENTER OR BLOOD DRIVE NEARBY.
SUE THEW: “As long as their donors sign up through that link, then no matter where they give blood … that link gives their organization credit for recruiting that donor and it’s a way to keep that feeling of togetherness with the people in your organization, even though we might be further apart right now.”
SLANAKER AND THEW SAY IT’S IMPORTANT TO DONATE REGULARLY. BLOOD CAN’T BE STOCKPILED. SLANAKER SAYS WHOLE BLOOD ONLY LASTS 42 DAYS.
(5:37) COURTNEY SLANAKER: “Help us prevent shortages … we need you to donate now, yes, but we also need you to donate in three months and six months, in nine months and in 12 months and having those regular ongoing donations, is going to help us curb a future shortage.”
THEW SAYS MOST PEOPLE DON’T REALIZE HOW IMPORTANT A REGULAR BLOOD SUPPLY IS UNLESS THEY KNOW SOMEONE WHO’S NEEDED IT. FOR THEW, THAT REALIZATION WAS VERY PERSONAL.
SUE THEW: “… three of my immediate family members have been blood recipients. My father had a heart attack on Christmas Eve and was rushed to the hospital during the most difficult week of the year to attract blood donors.”
THEW SAYS HER FATHER RELIED ON BLOOD FROM 15 DIFFERENT DONORS DURING HIS SURGERY, AND FOR A MONTH AFTER.
SUE THEW: “… because of those 15 blood donors, my dad lived another year and a half and that’s really what we’re talking about is the fact that you know blood donors give us time with the people that we care about, and there is no substitute for it.”
MOST PEOPLE DON’T WAKE UP EXPECTING TO NEED A BLOOD TRANSFUSION THAT DAY, BUT THEW SAYS SOME PEOPLE NEED REGULAR TRANSFUSIONS TO LIVE.
SUE THEW: “There’s a young lady named Adilyn. She’s a Valley six year old … and she’s receiving her 95th blood transfusion this month, because her body can’t make her own red blood cells. … And there are hundreds of people every single day with stories like that, that depend upon blood donors.”
THAT’S WHY SLANAKER SAYS THERE’S NO BETTER INVESTMENT THAN GIVING AN HOUR OF YOUR TIME TO DONATE BLOOD WHICH CAN POTENTIALLY CHANGE SOMEONE’S LIFE.
KIRSTEN DORMAN, CRONKITE NEWS.
HOST OUTRO:
YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT BLOOD DONATION BY TO GOING TO VITALANT-DOT-ORG, RED CROSS-DOT-ORG.
Arizona schools could be in trouble if the legislature does not override the spending cap by March 1st
ARIZONA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS COULD BE IN JEOPARDY OF ONE-POINT-TWO BILLION DOLLARS IN CUTS IF THE ARIZONA STATE LEGISLATURE DOES NOT OVERRIDE AN EDUCATIONAL SPENDING CAP. THE LEGISLATURE HAS UNTIL MARCH 1ST TO OVERRIDE THE CAP BY A TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY VOTE. MARISOL GARCIA WITH THE ARIZONA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION SAYS SCHOOLS COULD BE IN LIMBO IF THE CAP IS NOT OVERRIDDEN.
MG: “So the money just goes and gets put back into a savings account. It cannot be spent. And so what that means immediately is that educators can lose their jobs starting April 1st.”
DEMOCRATIC HOUSE MEMBER JENNIFER PAWLIK HAS INTRODUCED LEGISLATION TO ELIMINATE THE CAP. THE GOVERNOR DID NOT MENTION THE CAP IN LAST MONTH’S STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS.
The Webb telescope captures early images of isolated star (Thalia Lopez)
HOST INTRO:
NASA’S JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE THAT LAUNCHED ON DECEMBER 25TH IS NOW COMPLETING ITS FIRST PHASE. CRONKITE NEWS’S THALIA (TAL-lee-uh) LOPEZ REPORTS ON ITS HISTORICAL FINDINGS.
————————-
TL: THE WEBB TELESCOPE IS NOW SENDING BACK IMAGES OF A SINGLE STAR. THAT’S AFTER A LENGTHY PROCESS OF ALIGNING THE OBSERVATORY’S PRIMARY MIRROR. THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA’S LED NEAR INFRARED CAMERA (NIRCAM) WAS USED TO COLLECT LIGHT AND IDENTIFY THE ISOLATED STAR NEAR THE BIG DIPPER. 18 MIRROR SEGMENTS WORKED TOGETHER TO CAPTURE DATA OF THE STAR, SLIGHTLY BEING ADJUSTED OVER TIME.
THOSE IMAGES WILL BE STITCHED TOGETHER TO CREATE AN ENTIRE IMAGE OF THE STAR. THE IMAGE WILL BE READY THIS SUMMER ACCORDING TO MARCIA RIEKE, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR FOR THE NIRCAM INSTRUMENT AT U-ARIZONA.
MR: “So we are taking data off step by step to get those two where they will be delivering the beautiful images that we will show off. We’re hoping something like, in June, will show the first real science images.”
TL: RIEKE SAYS THERE WERE MANY NAYSAYERS WHO THOUGHT THIS VOYAGE WAS TOO COMPLICATED TO WORK BUT SHE SAYS SHE’S PROUD OF THE INTERNATIONAL TEAM THAT MADE IT POSSIBLE.
MR: “We come together, work together and have produced a telescope that is going to take data, that will completely change the face of astronomy.”
IMAGES WILL CONTINUE TO BECOME CLEARER IN THE COMING MONTHS AS THREE OTHER INSTRUMENTS REACH OPERATING TEMPERATURES AND BEGIN CAPTURING DATA.
THALIA LOPEZ CRONKITE NEWS.
Bezos Blue Origin is hiring
JEFF BEZOS’S SPACEFLIGHT COMPANY “BLUE ORIGIN” IS LOOKING TO EMPLOY PHOENIX RESIDENTS.
BLUE ORIGIN WANTS TO HIRE NEARLY 200 PEOPLE FROM THE REGION TO STAFF ITS NEW OFFICE IN DOWNTOWN PHOENIX.
THE COMPANY IS LOOKING TO FILL POSITIONS IN AVIONICS … SOFTWARE ENGINEERING … DATA SCIENCES … NAVIGATION AND CONTROL … AND MANY MORE.
BLUE ORIGIN IS ALSO SET TO EXPAND ITS OFFICES INTO THE DENVER AREA.
(bring up music under very last track and post up in the clear for a couple of seconds and duck below)
WE HAD HELP TODAY FROM THALIA LOPEZ AND KIRSTEN DORMAN.
(Bring up music and duck below)
YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STORIES YOU HEARD IN TODAY’S NEWS UPDATE, BY GOING TO CRONKITENEWS-DOT-AZPBS-DOT-ORG.
THAT’S ALL FOR YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2 GO. I’M JOHN BROWN .
(Music out)