Blood drive falls short of goal
Lana Hazel
Issue date: 4/10/09 Section: News
|
Lora Johnson, donor recruiter for CBCO, explained that the organization supplies 36 area hospitals and has blood drives Sunday through Saturday every week to be able to keep up with the needs. She said the collections from Northwest Arkansas are not enough and donations from Missouri must be brought in to fulfill the rest.
The goal for the UA blood drive was to collect 150 donations Wednesday and 80 Thursday. Just 79 donors gave a total of only 56 units on Wednesday, far below what was needed.
"Sometimes it feels impossible to get enough donations," Johnson said. She said she always makes sure she tells people that one blood donation can save three lives. "And it's the only community service you can do lying down," she said.
The center has blood drives at Missouri State University also, Johnson said. "At MSU we can have 1,200 people give in 3 days, but here we usually get 250 to 300 in the same amount of time," she said. "I absolutely do not get it."
Chanda Watkins, a nurse at CBCO, said they usually depend on the UA for a big turnout. "Being this slow would usually hit us really hard," she said, but overall transfusion rates have been up recently.
The collections supervisor for CBCO said that the donations at the UA usually even out so they are meeting their goals overall. "We are just like a business," she said. "Sometimes business is good, sometimes it's not."
The blood drives are sponsored by Alpha Phi Omega, a service organization on campus. The members call CBCO to come to the UA twice each semester. This time they made the hours longer to give more people an opportunity to come. "Last time it was really busy during lunch, the staff was overwhelmed and then students would get frustrated with the wait and leave," said Alana Hale, pledge trainer for APO.
Be the first to comment on this story