In a partnership with the American Red Cross, Friday marked the sixth annual Service NC State Blood Drive, a Wolfpack Welcome Week event sponsored by the Center for Student Leadership, Ethics, and Public Service and other organizations on campus.
Held in the Carmichael Gymnasium, the event lasted 11 hours and had students, faculty and other members of campus donating all throughout the day.
“The goal for this year’s blood drive is to have 1,180 people participate and 1,000 units of blood donated,” said Kim Berrier, senior account manager for the Red Cross, who assisted in the coordination of the event.
Berrier said that prior to the start of the blood drive, more than 900 appointments had been made by potential donors. This was made possible through the free American Red Cross Blood Donor app, which allows users to make and manage appointments, as well as find blood drives in the area.
Potential donors must first complete a health history questionnaire, reading statements regarding their blood pressure, pulse, iron levels and temperature to see if they are eligible to donate. Upon successful completion of the health history survey, donors can either give whole blood or double red cells.
According to the Red Cross, whole blood, which consists of red cells, plasma and platelets, is the standard donation and amounts to one pint. Meanwhile, double red cell donations are formed solely from red blood cells due to their high demand and amount to approximately two pints of blood. These types of donations come from people with an O-negative blood type, known as universal donors.
After completing the process of donating blood, donors received a free T-shirt and snacks to recover. Blood donation extracts one pint out of the 9–12 pints of blood in a person’s body, and it is important that donors eat and rehydrate after giving.
Berrier said the biggest challenge the blood drive faces is getting the word out. Being so close to the beginning of the school year, a concerted effort had to be made to inform students about the blood drive in the few days leading up to the blood drive.
Various student organizations across campus volunteered at RecFest and Campus Connections to spread the word to students about the upcoming blood drive, hoping that they take time out of their day to potentially save up to three lives with each pint they donate.
Rayna Carter, a graduate student at NC State studying food science, was relaxing at the canteen after donating at the blood drive for her third year in a row.
“I don’t like needles,” Carter said. “But I don’t mind it because I enjoy coming out and helping support a good cause.”
According to the Service NC State website, in the previous five years the blood drive has been held, a total of 4,894 pints of blood have been collected through the Service NC State Blood Drive.
