EMS wins Battle of Badges blood drive

Sedgwick County EMS is the American Red Cross’ Battle of the Badges winner, its first win in the contest’s 22 years.

“It’s been great for us to see the community rally around our first responders,” Sedgwick County EMS Capt. Greg Gering said Wednesday. “I’d just tell folks to keep donating (blood) all the time.”

The Battle of the Badges is an annual friendly competition between law enforcement, EMS and firefighters from the city of Wichita and Sedgwick County to see who can recruit the most blood and platelet donors. When people donate, they get to vote for one of the agencies.

The winner was announced Wednesday downtown at the Wichita Donor Center.

The event aims to help bolster the blood supply in the Central Plains region during the holiday season, a time of the year when donations historically fall off.

This year’s goals were 1,299 pints of blood and 453 units of platelets, and both were met; 1,395 pints and 534 units of platelets were donated, Red Cross representatives said.

Although he’s proud of this year’s victory, Gering said the competition is enjoyable every year, whether EMS wins or not.

“This is a great cause for great people that need it,” he said. “So we’re just an avenue to help create that during the season when the need is great.

“Regardless of that, it feels awesome” to win, he said with a grin.

Wichita police Lt. Lynn Moore said that despite losing, the competition is good.

“I feel all of us are winners,” Moore said. “I actually did ask who came in second – we did.

“In my mind, being one of the big losers is fantastic.”

This story was originally published January 4, 2017 at 6:25 PM with the headline "EMS wins Battle of Badges blood drive."