By Ashley Peterson-DeLuca
This blood donor month has special meaning for Trevor Oestmann. After almost a decade of employment at the Red Cross promoting blood drives and helping to save thousands of lives, in early January 2025, Oestmann was finally able to walk his fiancée Ethan Haneklaus into a blood drive to donate blood for the first time as an adult. Haneklaus is a Red Cross volunteer who has deployed in response to disasters and has worked in Biomedical Services. More people can donate blood with the American Red Cross through updated FDA guidelines that eliminate eligibility questions based on sexual orientation.
The Red Cross implemented the updated FDA guidance on August 7, 2023. Today, all potential donors are asked the same questions related to donation eligibility through a standard donor history questionnaire all blood collection organizations in the U.S. will use and are assessed based on their own personal risk factors, not on sexual orientation. This historic move was supported by years of research.
Oestmann joined the Red Cross in 2016 in donor recruitment and was recently promoted to Strategic Business Planning Manager for Nebraska and Southwest Iowa. He makes sure the blood drive calendar remains full.
He’s also the co-chair for the Nebraska and Iowa Red Cross Pride Committee, putting him at the front lines building relationships with the LGBTQ+ community. In the last year, he attended Pride celebrations in Sioux City, Omaha and Des Moines.
“It’s really cool to talk to everyone about blood donation. A lot of people don’t know the policies have changed,” says Oestmann. “I’m also able to dispel the myth that the eligibility guidelines are a Red Cross policy instead of one set by the federal government.”
Previously, he encouraged people to consider volunteer opportunities like disaster assessment or becoming a blood program leader, but now he can encourage folks to give blood themselves too. With someone in the U.S. needing blood or platelets every two seconds, safely expanding the pool of donors can save even more lives. Since implementing the updated FDA guidelines in August 2023, eliminating policies based on sexual orientation, the Red Cross has seen an overwhelmingly positive response from the community, including new blood donors, new blood drive hosts and new volunteers engaging in our mission.
“It’s great to see the LGBTQ+ community get out and donate,” says Oestmann. The Red Cross is working to partner with LGBTQIA+ groups to host blood drives. His goal next year is to host a blood drive at a Pride event.
The Red Cross is committed to achieving further progress and will continue to provide data to the FDA in support of making blood donation even more inclusive. In the first year since the Red Cross implemented the FDA’s updated guidelines, more than 13 percent of individuals in our system who had previously received the three-month deferral under the prior policy, and when informed about the change, have returned to donate. Nearly half of these individuals have already donated more than once since the change.
In addition to spreading the news about the eligibility changes around gender, Oestmann also shared other updates about blood donation:
· If you’ve recently gotten a tattoo, you can give blood. As long as the tattoo or piercing was done by a state licensed facility that uses new single use needles, you can donate again once the site has healed and there is no sign of infection.
· You don’t need perfect blood pressure to donate. You can donate as long as your blood pressure is 180 or below systolic (top number) and 100 or below diastolic (bottom number) at the time of donation. When you come in to donate, a Red Cross staff member will check your blood pressure as part of the mini health assessment conducted prior to donating.
· If you’ve lived in France, Ireland or the U.K. then you are no longer deferred. The FDA also recently updated the guidelines on those who previously spent time in Europe so they are eligible.
· You don’t have to wait until you’re 18 to donate. In Iowa and Nebraska, if you’re 17 years old, or 16 with parent/guardian consent, you can donate.
If you’re not sure if you’re eligible to donate blood, visit RedCrossBlood.org to view eligibility requirements.
There is a place for everyone in the mission of the Red Cross. Join Oestmann, his fiancée and others in helping to save lives by giving blood or by hosting a blood drive. Find a blood drive near you and learn about volunteer opportunities by visiting redcross.org.
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