Blood drive to be held in honor of Old Lyme native

Day, The (New London, CT)

July 01--OLD LYME -- When Old Lyme native Lisa Russell was in an accident this past April in Boston, community members reached out to her family to ask how they could help.

Now, her family said there is a way for the community to come together and do something important in her honor: An American Red Cross blood drive will be held Friday, July 6, at Town Hall.

After Russell, 28, a 2007 graduate of Lyme-Old Lyme High School, athlete and physical therapist, was hit by a car in Boston in April, doctors used more than 50 pints of blood in the process of saving her life during her first days in the hospital, with more blood required in subsequent surgeries, said her sister, Kimberly Russell Thompson.

Russell, who spent about six weeks at Massachusetts General Hospital and is doing well and in rehabilitation, is expected to make a full recovery, Russell Thompson said.

"I think it's wonderful that the community is coming together for a blood drive," said Russell, who is the daughter of Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School teacher Pam Russell and Old Lyme Board of Finance Chairman Andy Russell, who is the general manager of 6 local radio stations. "Blood transfusions have been an essential part of my surgical and recovery process. I hope the town hall has a good showing!"

The goal of the blood drive is to bring the community together and collect 60 to 70 pints of blood, and also to encourage people to prepare -- or at least start thinking about -- documents that would direct their financial and medical decisions, if they find themselves unable to do so in the future.

For Kimberly Russell Thompson, her sister's accident not only underscored how critical it is to donate blood but also how important these documents can be.

In the first few days following her accident, Lisa Russell didn't have the capacity to make decisions for herself, Russell Thompson said, and, like many young people, she didn't have a power of attorney or an advance medical directive in place, her sister said. An advance directive allows individuals to specify ahead of time what they want for their health care, or to appoint a representative to make decisions for them, according to the state Department of Social Services.

While her sister's medical path forward was very clear and her family had no issues in making medical decisions, Russell Thompson said, she could imagine a situation could have arisen where the family would have had to struggle with wondering what medical decision her sister wanted.

Russell Thompson, who has a master's degree in domestic health policy and clinical research, has taken many medical ethics courses and studied how families can face dilemmas over what to do for family members who are in dire medical conditions and unable to make choices for themselves. Most often, the cases surrounded young people -- typically, a population that isn't necessarily thinking of the need to have such documents in place -- who suffered some kind of accident and it was unclear what the person wanted or who had the power to make choices for them, she said.

That's why she said preparing an advance medical directive or having conversations with people ahead of time is important, and she's hoping to raise awareness of the issue.

"Some of what I hope comes out of this is people start having those hard conversations about what they would want and who and why they're assigning someone to make medical choices for them," Russell Thompson said.

She also is encouraging people to consider if they know someone they could trust to have access to their financial records and trust that the person only would use those privileges in such a medical emergency.

While in the hospital, the family wanted to make sure Lisa Russell's finances remained in order, including student loans, car payments, bank account, insurance and tax records to prove loss of income, Russell Thompson said. But it can be very difficult to gain access to financial records, particularly for someone who is single and doesn't have shared accounts, she said.

"Until we had power of attorney in place, no one would talk to us," Russell Thompson said. "Once she signed power of attorney over to her mom, it was really easy to get access, but we had to wait until she was in a state where she could consent to that."

While it may be more common for elderly people to have these documents in place, Russell Thompson said, "it's a good thing for younger people to at least think about and to think if they have someone they could trust to be able to sign those documents."

Downloadable forms for an advance directive and power of attorney have been posted on the town website, under the forms and documents link. Notary Publics will be available at the event, and the town also is looking for additional volunteers.

Russell Thompson said people who are unable to give blood can volunteer to help with the Red Cross in other ways at the event.

Russell Thompson said documents, like an advance medical directive, can help a family know what their family member wants and have them comfortable making choices on their behalf.

"Part of putting these documents in place is making it easier on your family," she said. "If one of these things does happen, then they at least feel confident that they're making choices that you would want."

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