News Archive
Judge Gerald Zore, '68, Featured on Blood Mobile
01/23/2017
You don’t need to do a double-take when you see what looks like a city bus with a familiar face emblazoned on the side.
Yes. That is the likeness of retired Marion Superior Court Judge Gerald Zore, ’68, on the side of two Indiana Blood Center blood mobiles.
His honor, who’s blood type is A Positive, by the way, has been donating blood since he was a student at Marian University. Judge Zore has donated well over 800 times.
“I used to stop by the Indiana Blood Center’s main office on my way to work to donate,” Judge Zore said. “It’s easy to do, doesn’t take a lot of time, and it helps people.”
It’s help that is desperately needed, according to the Indiana Blood Center. Every two seconds, someone needs blood, and every minute, patients use more than 36 units of blood or blood products. Every day, approximately 40,000 units of blood are used in the United States. Donating blood takes about 45 minutes.
Judge Zore’s longtime service to the organization made him a natural fit for the blood mobile, said Andrea Fagan, Director of Public Relations and Marketing at IBC. “This is a human business, and he’s such a beloved figure in the community. It just made sense to have him on one of our platelet mobiles.”
Fagan pointed out that it is, in fact, a platelet mobile bearing Judge Zore’s image. Platelets can be donated every 7 days and have a shelf-life of only 5. The procedure to collect them is called apheresis and allows a donor to give up to 12 times the number of platelets typically collected in a whole blood donation. Judge Zore started out donating whole blood, has donated plasma, but now donates platelets, which is the best donation for his blood type.
“It’s just an easy way to help out,” he said.
Judge Zore can always be counted on for helping out. He was honored as a finalist in Indianapolis Business Journal’s Health Care Heroes honors program in 2013 for his work as a volunteer with IBC. Judge Zore was a longtime member of the IU McKinney Alumni Association Board, and now serves as an emeritus member representative. He received the Maynard K. Hine Medal in 2008 for significant contributions to the IUPUI campus.
