LOS ANGELES – A hospital waiting room is probably the last place you would want to go right now, especially if you’re healthy.

“We have been you know self-isolating at home, we leave the house for important reasons and this feels like an important reason” said 54-year-old Joshua Malina. “I got an email from Cedars saying that there is an extreme blood shortage, so this felt like an acceptable risk to take.”  

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You might recognize Malina from shows like Scandal, The West Wing and the Big Bang Theory. But he’s not just a regular on TV, he’s a regular at blood drives as well, because decades ago, when his daughter was just two years old, she had heart surgery. 

“It was a stressful time, but it made us feel good to know that people, including strangers, people who we’d never met and people we’d never meet were willing to donate blood so my daughter could be OK, so that’s a very good feeling,” said Malina.

So today, he’s paying it forward because nearly all community blood drives have been canceled due to social distancing guidelines.

“Last week alone we had about 800 units of planned blood drive units there we were going to collect cancel all of a sudden," said Armando Romero, Assistant Director of Blood Services for Cedars-Sinai.

Eight hundred individual blood donations would have helped between 1,600 to 2,000 people. 

It would have gone to help cancer patients, folks who need organ transplants, to assist in trauma cases and even heart surgeries like the one Malina’s daughter had. 

“So I encourage people if you’re considering it, maybe to go ahead and do it,” said Malina.

After all, at a time when we’re so concerned about each other’s health, here is one sure way you can make a difference. 

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