Students and faculty came out and donated their blood in the first campus blood drive of the semester.
Blood Source came to Cosumnes River College on Sept. 12 and 13 and will be back Nov. 8 and 9 this semester.
“My hope is the most common reason [for students to give blood] is that they hope, intrinsically want to do well for themselves and others,” said College Nurse Michelle Barkley Barkley. “I think the intrinsic value is knowing that you are doing something good and not expecting any rewards out of it.”
The Blood Source buses were parked by the Library to make it more convenient for students and faculty to give blood. All participants received a free T-Shirt that said ‘Best day ever I donated blood!’ and provided the Blood Source website on it.
Although we are told that donating blood saves lives, some people do not know how the process works.
“The majority of it [the blood] goes to local hospitals, people in need, and in hospitals where they give it for either someone that’s been in an accident, someone that’s had some internal bleeding,” said College Nurse Michelle Barkley. “They give the packed red blood cells, the whole units, to people that have blood loss.”
Barkley said that the donated blood goes to other areas of the world as well, not only our local hospitals.
“Blood Source has such an outreach program,” said Barkley. “Not only is it local area hospitals, it’s other states, as well as other countries that they will send the blood to, if need be.”
Students of all different majors, ages, and backgrounds came out to the buses to donate their blood.
One of the students that gave blood, Phi Phan, 22, nursing major said, “I am doing this because I want to save lives.”
Phan said she believes in the power of donating blood. She herself has donated blood previously and plans on doing it again in the future.
While some may feel like donating blood is scary or harmful to our bodies, Barkley said, “As we donate blood, our body has to regenerate new cells, which is healthy. It is a cleansing process.”
In spring 2016, CRC collected 146 pints of blood, said Felicia Roper, account manager for the blood drive. A total of 197 students and faculty members from CRC participated. This semester the campus collected 175 pints of blood, a little off from the campus goal of 180 pints, Barkley said.
With the buses placed in one of the busiest areas of campus, it drew a lot of attention and had people thinking about donating. A banner was also mounted to the parking garage and there were signs posted around various areas of campus.
Nurses at the blood drive worked busily as they called student after student onto the buses to begin the process of gathering the person’s personal information and taking their blood.
Every donor was welcomed to the snack bar provided by Blood Source, which was filled with many drinks and snacks available to them as they relaxed before they exited the bus.
People that were not able to donate blood this week or would like to donate again are welcomed to donate at any Blood Source location.
“It’s awesome that so many students really believe in this,” said Patricia Gonzales, 24, political science major. “If every single student that could give blood gave blood, think about how much blood CRC could provide,” said Gonzales.