Tom Petersen takes fun seriously.
How can learning history be enjoyable for middle school students? How can hobbies make blood donation more accessible? How can hanging out with friends also save lives?
“If it’s a fun experience, if people think of it as a positive thing,” Tom muses. “Then that leads to success.”
Tom looks younger than his 63 years, with a lighthearted energy that matches his youthful appearance. Maybe it’s because he still plays with toys.
“I’m an IndyCar fan, and I like to say that I was born with a matchbox in each hand,” he says.
Tom has crafted a unique “phlebotomobile” for every staff member at Bloodworks’ Lynnwood Donor Center: a custom-painted matchbox car that matches their personality.
He has a whole fleet of these vehicles. By engaging with a passionate community of model car hobbyists, he hopes to bring more people in to blood donation.
Tom first donated blood after high school because it seemed like a grown-up activity.
“I started because I saw a board that said, ‘donate blood here.’ And I said, ‘well, that’s an adult thing to do. I should do that because it’s a good thing.’”
In the more than 40 years since, he’s come into Bloodworks for, “206 pokes and over 400 units collected.”
Presently, he’s sitting in a chair in Lynnwood waiting for Lorry, his blood collection specialist today, and poke number 207 – a platelet donation.
But that’s not where his relationship with blood donation started: he remembers being 5 or 6 years old and watching his dad come home with a band-aid on his arm after a visit to the blood center.
Tom knows that making an early impression pays off in the long run. As a recently retired educator, he shared his love of giving back in the classroom – even though his middle school students were several years away from being old enough to donate blood.
“It’s been very gratifying that I hear back from former students that, ‘hey, I donated at the school blood drive today’ or at a neighborhood blood drive years later. And they say it’s because they remembered me talking about it in class.”
Tom’s own children have followed his lead.
“My oldest may have been the fastest kid to a gallon here at Bloodworks because he donated for the first time about two days after his 16th birthday and then went every eight weeks and hit a gallon a year and a half later,” Tom laughs.
Tom’s love of saving lives doesn’t stop at regular donations. For the past 18 years, he’s coordinated a blood drive in his Shoreline neighborhood.
“We do a lot of things in Richmond Beach, but the blood drive is one of them, and it becomes part of the cultural identity of the neighborhood.”
He also is a committed volunteer and financial donor.
“Not everybody is able to donate blood. But if it becomes something that we can all really feel as being part of, who we are and what we do, it’s what makes our community a wonderful place.”
Tom made the switch to donating platelets during COVID as a way to get out of the house and be around people – who have now become friends.
“I was just thinking about how by coming to Bloodworks every couple of weeks to donate platelets is kind of the same as people who routinely go to their favorite, you know, Gamespot or restaurant or something like that. They’re regulars, and it’s a great feeling.”
“And then,” he says with a twinkle in his eye, “they also told me that one of the things that’s good to do to prepare for donating blood, or platelets especially, is to have a milkshake, because you get some hydration, some calcium and some protein.”
“And, well, if I have to have a milkshake, then, you know, doctor’s orders, right?”
At this point, Lorry jumps in.
“Are you ready?” She asks.
“Yeah, I’m ready,” Tom replies.
Donation #207 is underway.
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