Filling up to help save lives

MEDIA DISTRICT NORTH -- Kelly Khoury's Shell was a full service gas station Friday, where the phrase "fill 'er up" carried more than one meaning.

People could fill up their tank with gas or a sterile plastic bag with their blood bound for patients at Providence St. Joseph hospitals serving the San Fernando Valley.

"I stopped to make a phone call to my son and thought, 'Of course I should be doing this,'" Palmdale resident Naria Haddad said of the blood drive taking place at the gas station on Hollywood Way. "I'm that type of person who will decide then and there to do something."

Station owner Kelly Khoury not only donated blood himself, but offered the incentive of a $10 gas card to each donor who gave blood at Providence St. Joseph's trailer set up in the parking lot.

"It's really a great feeling to do this," Khoury said. "We like to help people."

A similar blood drive at Khoury's Shell station in Glendale on Oct. 7 resulted in the donation of 30 pints of blood for Providence St. Joseph.

Among those who stopped for gas and donated blood was Glendale resident Lyle Catacutan.

He had always wanted to donate blood but had never gotten around to it, Catacutan said.

"Good thing somebody asked me today to donate," Catacutan said as he got back into his car.

Prior to being stuck with a needle, donors fill out a questionnaire on their general health and well being.

Then, inside an air-conditioned trailer they go over the questionnaire with a hospital staff member and give the blood.

Blood donations are especially critical this time of the year as the number of donors drops during cold and flu season, Providence's blood donor recruiter Sandy Hibarger said.