Members of the Duluth Police Department, Fire Department and area paramedics are competing against each other. The Battle of the Badges is a first ever blood donation event between DPD, DFD and area paramedics supporting Memorial Blood Centers.

The current supply of O negative blood is critically low, and donations from these donors are especially needed. Type O negative is necessary for trauma situations, allowing for immediate transfusions during emergencies.

Duluth City Councilor at Large, Terese Tomanek, has Type O negative blood. She said donating is incredibly important in her family.

“O-negative are the universal donors and in my family we have three O negatives and one O-positive,” Tomanek said. “Our O-positive person received a donation when she was born. So it’s been really important for the rest of us to donate. I had a little pinning ceremony, because I had my six gallon donation today. That means I’ve donated 48 times.”

Memorial is still recovering from a nearly 50% decrease of youth and first-time blood donors since 2019. While there have been efforts to rebuild donations, maintaining a steady supply continues to be a challenge. Mattie Hjelseth with the Duluth Police Department said you never know when someone needs a transfusion.

“Blood is needed, especially if there’s ever a car crash or if there’s a transfusion that needs to happen,” Hjelseth said. “Or if your loved one needs that blood, just think about how many people you can potentially save. This is a great opportunity, not only just this battle, but also any time you donate blood as well.”

About one in seven people entering a hospital will need blood, according to Memorial Blood Centers. Katie Sandstrom a Duluth Firefighter said they receive a number of calls with patients needing a blood transfusion.

“There’s always someone on the other end if you can think about who is going to be receiving the blood that you’re donating. I’ve heard a couple of really spectacular stories today, some kind of coming full circle,” Sandstrom said. “Examples of people who have needed blood, who have received it, and then in time come back around and said thank you to the donors and people standing in line.”|

Donated red blood cells last up to 42 days. David Brooks of Mayo Clinic Ambulance said our hospitals constantly need a fresh supply of blood donated.

“It’s nice to be able to coordinate and work with these agencies, we work with every day,” Brooks said. “We’re all out there trying to save lives every day, and this is just another way we can work together to do that.”

The Battle of the Badges blood donation results are in for Wednesday, April 17th. Team Mayo won with 23 donors, Team Law and Team Fire tied for second with 14.5 donors. The total overall being 52 donors, because City Councilor at Large Tomanek split her donor vote between Team Law and Team Fire.

Although people can still donate blood this week until Friday, April 19th. For more information on the Battle of the Badges you can read more here. Also for other stories blood donations you can read more here.