Blood
flowing, Red Cross finds ample supply
By Cassady Jeremias
On-line Forty-Niner
 The
biannual blood drive started slowly this
week, with fewer students coming in to donate
than last semester.
“Last time one professor was offering 10
points to come donate, so we had a huge
rush of students, which is not a good thing
because it destroys the incentive,” Maria
York, charge nurse of the blood drive said.
In November, the drive yielded about 300
donors, less than 1 percent of the Cal State
Long Beach student body.
 Students
may be reluctant to donate because of their
busy schedules and nervousness about needles.
“A lot of people have a fear of it,” coordinator
of the blood drive, Tom DeClerck said. “Once
you do it, you realize how simple it is.”
“Students are some of the best donors we
have. Students age 18 to 25 are some of
the healthiest people in society,” said
Jennifer Broderick of the American Red Cross
in Long Beach.
With the recent blood shortages in the nations
supply, coupled with the blood quarantine
in the Southeastern United States because
of a “white particulate matter” found in
blood bags from that area, blood banks across
the United States have issued a united,
immediate call for donations.
Testing by the Center for Disease Control
has found no evidence of any infectious
agents in the white particulate, and says
it may be a normal occurrence, now more
noticeable with new testing techniques.
Still, the American Red Cross has added
an additional “visual inspection” to the
bags.
“We are inspecting bags even before we put
them out there,” York said. “I think
[the particle matter] is in the composition
of the bag itself, sodium, which tends to
crystallize.”
The visual inspection testing is added onto
the list of 13 other tests that blood goes
through before it reaches a donor, including
hepatitis B and C, HIV, Syphilis, cell typing
and antibody testing.
Giving blood is absolutely safe, with a
new needle used for each donor. Students
who donate can receive free T-shirts, juice,
snacks, candy and cookies. The whole process
takes about an hour. Anyone who is 17 or
older and weighs 110 pounds or more can
donate.
“It’s a really easy way you can help people
out. Its quick, in 30 minutes you can save
someone’s life,” donor Laura McClure, a
freshman undecided major said.
According to Broderick, one donor who donates
one pint of blood, the size of a small milk
carton, can help up to three different people.
“The only blood that is ever thrown away
is dirty [blood],” she said.
“It is a good idea for anyone to donate
blood. It is one of those commodities that
is always needed,” De Clerk said.
If a student donates, the blood is almost
guaranteed to help someone in need. The
blood most often goes to those who have
had major surgeries that require a lot of
blood like liver transplants, people with
sickle cell anemia, and newborn babies in
Intensive Care.
With a shelf life of only 42 days, and donors
able to donate every 56 days, blood will
always be needed.
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