Two years ago, the Nassau County Courts began a first-of-its-kind program whereby jurors were asked if they would like to donate blood while serving on jury duty. The program was spearheaded by Massapequa resident and Nassau County Commissioner of Jurors Thomas G. DeVivo, Esq. To date, this program has received more than 10,000 pints of life-saving blood, making the Nassau Courts the top donor pool on Long Island and within the top 10 in New York State.

DeVivo, a resident of Massapequa for 24 years, is also involved in offering prostate and breast cancer screening programs for jurors. In 2001, he received a national level award from the American Association of Blood Banks recognizing the program, which may have benefited hundreds, if not thousands, of patients.

"There is always a certain amount of time spent waiting that is built into the jury system," DeVivo explained. "About five or six years ago, we were looking to make the jurors' time a little bit more productive, and because of the problems we have here on Long Island with the high breast cancer rate, the first of our programs, breast cancer screening, was born."

Currently, breast cancer screenings are offered to jurors at no cost every other Monday, with prostate screenings available every Monday. Both screenings are subsidized by grants from the State of New York. Both are done during the day the jurors serve, so they do not lose any time.

The blood donation program has filled a particular need, DeVivo said, especially since last May, when the Federal Government banned the exportation of blood from Europe. "The New York Blood Center, the parent organization, was getting as much as one third of all their blood donations from European blood," DeVivo said. "They have to make it up someplace, and this is one of the programs where they are doing it."

Two or three times a week, DeVivo, along with a representative from Long Island Blood Service, gets up in front of the jurors and gives a speech motivating them to donate their blood. On average, between 45 and 55 pints of blood are donated a day.

"The residents of Nassau County are fortunate to have someone serving them as Commissioner DeVivo. Along with Nassau County Administrative Judge Edward G. McCabe, Commissioner DeVivo has brought Nassau County jurors into the national spotlight," said Daniel Bagnuola, director of community relations for the Nassau County Courts.

"I'm still amazed by the tremendous response we've gotten from all three of the programs," DeVivo said, "especially the blood donation program. It is a model program that we are expanding to Suffolk, the Bronx, Queens and Westchester. I get phone calls from all over the country. Last week it was from Texas, last month it was from San Francisco. There seems to be this particular blood shortage all over the country."

"I was absolutely thrilled to be able to give blood," said 32-year-old Olivia Hamlin, who took advantage of the blood donation program when she served on jury duty two months ago. Hamlin, who said she had wanted to do something after September 11, but I never did, was very happy to have this opportunity made available to her. "Everyone was very nice. The people who took the blood stood by me, and made sure I was OK. I felt fabulous after it was over and came right back to work."