Gina Higdon’ Davis capitalizes on her nurturing characteristics and platform to save lives. As the first Black nurse at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center to produce her very own blood drive, “Ginarosity” is dedicated to Black health.
Born in Los Angeles in 1965, Davis has dedicated more than 25 years of her life to serving the community.
Davis worked for the United States Postal Service in Inglewood, California for 15 years. While working as a mail carrier full-time, she graduated from nursing school, obtaining the title of registered nurse.
Continuing her journey, she went on to work at the West L.A. Veterans Affairs Hospital in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit (CTICU) for 10 years. Next, Davis became a traveling nurse.
After a year of traveling as a medical professional, Davis became the first and only African American nurse in the BDS (blood donor services) department at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center.
“I used to give blood before I even became a nurse,” Davis continued, “I learned that there is nothing in this world that can replace human blood — nothing. So, whenever someone gives blood, it’s from the bottom of their heart, they are truly saving lives. That is the true miracle,”
Davis raised two strong-willed women, Giana and Ronginae. Giana has a doctorate in Psychology and Ronginae graduated cum laude from Howard University’s College of Nursing and Allied Health to become an RN at Cedars Sinai. Ronginae works in one of her Davis’ previous units, the CTICU, following the trailblazing footsteps of her mother.
While working blood drives, Davis decided to create her own annual blood drive – the first blood drive directed by an African American woman at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center.
Davis stated, “I believe the word ‘generosity’ best describes me as a being; unselfish, my character, my values as a person, and a registered nurse as well. To sum it up ‘gina-rosity’ was derived and created from both my name Gina and the word generosity. I wanted to do something generous that could change lives and due to blood shortage, I decided to commit to giving a blood drive every year to save lives.”
This was the genesis of an annual lifesaving event known as “GINAROSITY.” Davis has held four blood drives so far and has saved countless lives over the past few years.
Continuing her nursing journey, Davis is now an RN in the urgent care department at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center. Although she isn’t a nurse in the BDS department, she fully intends to continue the GINAROSITY blood drives. The 5th annual GINAROSITY blood drive will be in August 2023.
For more information, call 310-423-5346 or visit Cedars-Sinai.edu/donateblood
