Detective John M. Falcone

John Falcone Blood Drive draws 70+ donors amid blood shortage

Posted on FEB. 21, 2022
News 1

Poughkeepsie police helped secure 50 pints of blood to go toward alleviating the Red Cross’s worst blood shortage in years, and they did it with help from the memory of a fallen hero.

“It’s going to be a very busy event,” Poughkeepsie Police Detective Steven Cowles said as he checked in donors at Monday’s annual John Falcone Blood Drive at the Grandview event center in Poughkeepsie.

Falcone was shot and killed in February 2011 at the Poughkeepsie Metro-North train station during a struggle with a man who had just shot his wife a few blocks away, and was holding the couple’s 3-year-old daughter.

Monday’s blood drive was the 12th held in Falcone’s memory.

Detective Steven Cowles, a former colleague of Falcone’s, said Monday every year the event draws a mix of public servants who know Falcone’s story well, and others who did not know him, but learn about him.

“We do get a lot of law enforcement signups … county court employees, city of Poughkeepsie employees, so anyone who had contact with John,” he explained. “It’s also open to the public. We get a lot of online signups that way.”

Monday’s event was completely booked before it began.

Red Cross account manager Susan Sommer said the recently passed COVID-19 Omicron variant spike kept many people inside and, in turn, kept them from giving blood, creating a massive shortage in donated blood.

She was pleased with Monday’s turnout, and explained that she saw a connection: Detective Falcone gave everything, and on the anniversary of his death, people from his community gave something.

“He made the ultimate sacrifice,” Sommer said. “For the police department to be doing this blood drive every year in his honor is just such a wonderful, thoughtful memorial to what he did.”

Sommer said the Red Cross ended with 50 units of blood through the event, and the donations could help up to 150 people.

She added that the Red Cross is finally beginning to see an uptick in donations following the omicron spike.

Retired Police Officer
NYPD

February 21, 2022