By: Jade Rayner News Editor
Last week Western hosted its first blood drive of the 2016-2017 school year. The American Red Cross took blood donations on Nov. 10-11 in the WUC, and were met with many eager volunteers. Western students, alumni and community members, both first time and regular donors, came together during the two day event.
In an interview, Marisa Wyckoff, account manager wit
h the American Red Cross, stated that their “goal was to collect 50 units of blood, each unit being a pint of blood, and yesterday we collected 66 units … which is basically a phenomenal day.”
Wyckoff added that “ a couple things that made a really big difference was that a lot of students took the time to make appointments … it helps us to prepare on our end that we bring out enough staff, enough beds, enough equipment so that the wait time and processing goes faster.”
The Red Cross supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood supply according to their website.
“The beauty about the Red Cross is that we’re a nationwide organization, so we definitely first make sure that the hospitals that we serve-their needs are met first. We can, and we do, ship our blood nationwide to make sure that the needs are met nationwide” answered Wyckoff when asked where blood goes after it’s donated.
Another way you can help out during the blood drive is volunteering to assist people after they make their donation.
“As a student volunteer, essentially what I do is I go in the snack area. When people are done donating I offer them snacks, water and juice,” explained sophomore Andrew Henneman. “We essentially make sure they (the donors) are okay and they stay for about 10-15 minutes or however long they need.”
One of Henneman’s reasons for volunteering was in part because “I’ve donated blood a couple times myself, and I knew some people that had tough times donating, like they got real dizzy after. I never did but know it was always nice to have someone to talk to when you sat down afterwards because you have to wait awhile.”
Whether you want to donate blood or volunteer to be there for someone donating blood, you can make a significant impact for those in need. Be sure to look out for the next blood drive at Western, or go to redcrossblood.org to find where you can donate blood locally.
Contact the author at journalnews@wou.edu
