Blood Drive continues to alleviate shortages

     The John Sallstrom Blood Drive was another success this semester. Beginning in 2000, the John Sallstrom Blood Drive has now become the largest blood drive in the Southern Georgia region. As of 5:30 p.m. last Wednesday evening, over 69 people had already donated to the drive. With only two and a half hours left in the evening, donors were waiting in long lines to give to the cause.
     This year, accommodations to donors went above and beyond previous years.
     “Anytime the students give us a suggestion we do take that to heart and try to listen,” Jennifer Arroyo, graduate student and volunteer said. “One year all we had was apple juice, and someone said we needed something else. So now we have three different kinds.”
     David Arnold, senior French major and volunteer, said, “This semester particularly, (was) really helpful with dominoes offering to sponsor this event. Getting food into your system before a blood drive is very important.
Another feature of the event was a golf cart service, assisting donors with rides to their class and to their dorms.
     “That’s to ensure the safety of the students,” Arroyo said.
Sponsored by The GIVE Center and the American Red Cross, the blood drive is in Milledgeville every three months.
     “We set that up so that a person can give every time,” Arroyo said.
     Platelets, red blood cells and “double red” donations are other options that are also available.
     Blood donation is extremely important and is highly valued by hospitals around the country.
     “Every pint of blood that goes to a hospital is valued at $500, and most of that money goes to just maintaining the blood,” Arnold said. “One pint of blood saves nine lives.”
     This semester members of the Pi Kappa Phi and Delta Sigma Phi fraternity also volunteered either work at the drive or to donate.
     With even more nurses on staff this semester, the goal of this year’s drive was to get donors in and out in thirty minutes.
     “Blood shortage is a prevalent problem in today’s society,” sophomore nursing major Haley Rice said. “Giving blood helps to alleviate the shortage and can possibly one day save another’s life making me more than willing to sacrifice one liter of my blood.”
     Registering online is now an option for donors and can be done at www.givelife.org.
     “In Georgia, the blood supply is critically low, especially after Hurricane Katrina,” Arnold said. “It’s such a great way to give back.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 15 2008. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry