Fort Knox blood drives bring soldiers and local community together

 By Kevin Sandell, American Red Cross volunteer

U.S. Army ROTC cadets pose with their gauze-wrapped arms after donating blood during a 2023 blood drive at Fort Knox.
Fort Knox hosts over 4,500 cadets each summer as part of Cadet Summer Training.

The American Red Cross bloodmobile is a familiar sight at Fort Knox, the large U.S. Army post south of Louisville and home to nearly 7,500 service members and their families. Blood drives are such popular events at on base, that two were scheduled in the same week with the bloodmobile at one location and a stationary blood drive at another.

“We normally can schedule 36 people in a day,” said Sgt. 1st Class John Lamanna, a medical noncommissioned officer at U.S. Army Human Resources Command. He often coordinates the blood drive and is happy with the community turn out, saying, “Since I have been here, we have maxed that number.”

As part of their regular training for combat, U.S. service members constantly train for medical emergencies, and blood donations are critical to saving patients’ lives. The blood drives on post, however, allow Fort Knox soldiers, families, and other community members to “help people in our own backyard,” Lamanna said. 

For Tammy Ritchie, Account Manager for the American Red Cross Kentucky Region, the blood drives on Fort Knox demonstrate the selfless service of those assigned there. Blood drives are “an act of kindness that impacts more than [service members and their families] know,” Ritchie said. 

Ritchie’s role is coordinating the logistical and administrative aspects of blood drives with organizations that host blood drives throughout Kentucky and providing them with marketing materials to promote their drives. The American Red Cross relies on organizations, businesses, schools, and other locations to host blood drives at locations that make it easy for people to donate blood. 

“Tammy makes the process to coordinate our blood drives very easy,” Lamanna said. “She supplies the personnel and equipment. We provide physical access to sites and approve her dates. We both work to advertise [on Fort Knox]. And things run smoothly from there.”

Bloodmobile parked in front of U.S. Army Human Resources Command, Jan. 11.
Fort Knox frequently hosts blood drives supporting the American Red Cross. 

Army Master Sgt. Heather Denby, a senior noncommissioned officer at U.S. Army Human Resources Command, donated blood on the bloodmobile during her lunch break. Although she described being uneasy in medical settings, she said, “the Red Cross [staff] always makes me feel at ease.” She added that she’s donated blood “a whole bunch” since joining the Army in 2003. “I’ve always felt a sense of obligation to donate,” Denby said. “If you have the ability to give blood and potentially save someone else’s life, without really even sacrificing anything, why wouldn’t you?”

The American Red Cross is facing an emergency blood shortage nationwide as it experiences the lowest number of people giving blood in the last 20 years. The Red Cross supplies blood to 40% of the nation’s hospitals. It also has a close partnership with the Armed Services Blood Program, which is the official military provider of blood products to U.S. armed forces.

In addition to blood drives hosted at places like Fort Knox, the American Red Cross Kentucky Region has four stationary blood donation locations and a multitude of community partners who host throughout the year.