Operation Pulse Lift
Operation Pulse Lift, launched in Arizona before the pandemic, expanded to include multiple locations in Alabama, Colorado, Kentucky, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. CAP has sponsored 146 emergency blood donation centers since April 2020 to support the COVID-19 humanitarian assistance mission.
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Transporting blood by land and air also is part of the CAP mission, with more than 500 trips to remote hospital locations by CAP aircrews and drivers.
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The mission has also supported blood collection activities at six U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force installations through the Armed Services Blood Program. This included blood going to hospitals in Washington, D.C., and Germany that treated casualties from the August 2021 Kabul Airport suicide bombing in Afghanistan.
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The Red Cross leveraged Operation Pulse Lift to support hospitals in California and Oregon during wildfire season, Texas and Louisiana for hurricanes, and the Southwest for a major winter storm. The mission’s emergency blood donation effort surged to collect 222 units of blood in response to the December 2021 tornados in Kentucky, Tennessee, and surrounding areas.
Across the country, Civil Air Patrol members and their families who don’t live near a CAP-sponsored donation center have reported their local blood donations for inclusion in the mission’s total. So far, about 5,700 units have been collected at CAP donation centers and about 4,300 at other locations, which the Red Cross equates to about 30,000 lives saved.
Operation Pulse Lift continues, with six blood donation centers scheduled through April. “The current need for blood donations is critical as the Red Cross has only a one-day supply of blood on its shelves."
Operation Pulse Lift Collects 10,000th Blood Unit During Pandemic
Acting as a Total Force partner and official civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, Civil Air Patrol helps First Air Force rapidly respond to non-military threats domestically in a Defense Support of Civil Authorities capacity to save lives, relieve suffering, prevent property damage and provide humanitarian assistance.
