First Nantucket Blood Drive In Decades Called A Huge Success

The island’s first blood drive in decades took place on Wednesday at the VFW Post 8608 off New South Road, where dozens of Nantucket residents showed up to participate.

It had been 28 years since the last blood drive on Nantucket, according to organizer Tom McCann, primarily due to the unfounded belief that the prevalence of tick-borne diseases on the island would prohibit the American Red Cross and other agencies from collecting blood from Nantucketers.

While that may have been true in the past, it is no longer the case. The American Red Cross arrived on the island Wednesday, and 74 Nantucket residents gave blood.

“I’ve been getting bombarded by the top Red Cross people in the country who are saying it was one of the biggest successes they’ve had,” McCann said. “They got 40 percent more blood than expected. It was fully booked going into it, and we still managed to squeeze more people in. It was like a Super Bowl party - everyone was hanging out. They gave blood and then had a donut and stayed to talk to everyone.”

For McCann, the idea for the blood drive came to him in Boston when he was getting a physical, and his clinicians told him they were in desperate need of blood. Knowing how Nantucket would respond if the call went out, McCann got to work planning with island residents and Nantucket Cottage Hospital. The first challenge was getting over the assumption that island residents could not give blood.

“Everyone just assumed you could not give blood because we’re an island with a lot of tick-borne diseases,” McCann said. “No one had asked the question. Pre-COVID, the rules were different, the FDA had different rules. But now it’s just that if you’re on medication for Lyme disease, you can’t give blood if you’re on it. That’s it.”

McCann spotlighted a handful of island businesses and agencies that assisted with the blood drive, including the Nantucket Hotel, which provided lodging for the visiting American Red Cross teams, EJ Harvey and the Seagrille for cooking dinner for everyone, Pi Pizza for contributing dozens of pizzas, and Pate Kennedy and Ron Oldham, who donated hundreds of donuts the day after the closing of The Downyflake. And there were unique Nantucket touches during the drive itself - including Town Crier Eric Goddard stopping by to rally the American Red Cross workers and volunteers.

With the success of Wednesday’s blood drive - a total of 74 pints of blood were collected - McCann is calling it simply a “test drive” for an even larger drive he’s planning at the VFW in June 2025. He wants to break the American Red Cross record for a blood drive event - 250 pints - which he said was previously set at Fenway Park.

“We’re pumped up,” McCann said. “We’re going to show Boston what Nantucket is all about.”

While the blood won’t stay on Nantucket - it goes to a lab in Dedham and then into a blood bank for distribution - McCann said the donations made on the island are likely going to areas in North Carolina devastated by the flooding from Hurricane Helene.

“It doesn't stay on Nantucket, but it’s a blood bank - you have to make a deposit to get withdrawals,” McCann said. “Right now, it's going to North Carolina, and God forbid if Nantucket needs it, they will get it. It was definitely a community-wide event, and everyone was all in, big time.”