Bangor’s new Red Cross chief likes challenge

BANGOR – The local Red Cross Blood Services office, overwhelmed by blood donations after Sept. 11, still is seeing a “good number of donors” turn up at its doors daily, according to its new manager, Norma Welch. Still, the need for blood of all types continues, and Welch, officially called “on-site manager of collections operations,” wants to remind people who came in after the terrorist attacks that the waiting period of 56 days has elapsed and they are eligible to donate again.

The abundance of blood donations this fall made it a “wonderful time to work here,” said Welch, who assumed overall management of the local blood collection center about four months ago.

“We collected thousands and thousands of units” of blood, Welch recalled of a time when people waited for hours in line outside the Red Cross Blood Services office on Odlin Road. Still, the need exists, especially for O positive, the “universal donor” blood type, and AB blood which is relatively rare, though Welch was hesitant to single out certain blood types as being more necessary than others.

A registered nurse, Welch worked as the local team supervisor for blood collections at the Red Cross for 31/2 years before getting her new job which was created last summer, in part, to enhance local decision-making power within the Red Cross organization.

In short, one manager used to control both the Portland and Bangor Red Cross blood services programs. A job managing programs located so far apart geographically made it difficult to give equal attention to both. Now Welch, who supervises about 30 staff members, has the authority to make decisions on most issues relating to employees and other matters.

Her job description has expanded to include facilities management, coordinating the transport of blood to regional headquarters in Dedham, Mass., making sure the center is in compliance with many federal and state regulations, among other duties.

No two days are exactly the same at work, and Welch welcomes the variety.

“It’s a great job, I love it,” said Welch in a recent interview.

The New England region now boasts several days’ supply of blood in case disaster strikes. Before Sept. 11 the region had less than one day’s supply. The need for collection continues, and Welch personally goes out to work on two mobile blood collection efforts each week. The mobile outreach programs help her keep in touch with staff and donors, according to Welch.

“If I’m sitting here and they’re out on the road all day, there’s no interaction,” she said.

A nurse since 1973, Welch graduated from Middlesex County College in New Jersey. Later she obtained a bachelor’s degree in sociology and worked in various hospitals. Before arriving in Maine, she worked for the New Jersey Organ and Tissue Sharing Network, where she helped coordinate organ transplants.

She traveled throughout New Jersey, getting organs and consoling families that, despite their grief over the loss of loved ones, wanted to donate their organs so another might live. She also arranged for donor recipients.

“It’s a job where you felt wonderful and awful at the same time,” Welch recalled.

Welch stayed with the job for five years, one of the longer tenures for a position known for its burnout factor.

“I loved it but the ‘on call’ status was wearing,” said Welch. She and her husband, Clifford Welch, the manager of the Penobscot Regional Communications Center, have three grown daughters.