ESU Hosts Blood Drive

BY LIAN MLODZIENSKI

SC Staff Writer

On November 25, 2013, East Stroudsburg University held a blood drive in the Keystone Room at the Center for Hospitality Management. This was one of two blood drives hosted at ESU every year.

Members of campus sororities and fraternities greeted donors as they entered. Other members and some community volunteers helped at the blood drive by registering people those who participated.

To register, donors needed to show identification or donor cards. Their information was imputed into a database that would show the volunteers if there was a reason any of them could not give blood. Then their names were recorded on a sign-in sheet along with the time they arrived.

People who walked in with no appointment or were late for their appointment were allowed to give blood.

They were then told to read the information in a black book that would inform them about giving blood and different requirements they needed to meet.

Different sets of requirements exist for people of different genders, ages, and other factors relevant to health.

One of the general requirements is to be healthy. In this case healthy is defined as feeling well and being able to perform normal activities.

In most states the donor must be at least 17 years old or 16 years old if parental consent is given. The donor must weigh 110 pounds if he or she is 19 years old.

In Pennsylvania, if the donor is 18 years old or younger and a male, he must be at least 5 feet 1 inch tall and weigh at least 130 pounds.

If the donor is 18 years old or younger and a female, she must be at least 5 feet 5 inches tall and weigh at least 150 pounds.

Several exam tables were set up for regular blood donations.

Some tables in the back were set up and prepared for double red donations. During double red blood donations, a needle is inserted into a person’s arm and blood is drawn.

A machine at the other end of the needle separates two units of red blood cells and returns the rest of the blood, mostly platelets and plasma, along with saline to your body through the same needle.

Red blood cells are the most frequently needed component of blood by many of the patients who need trasfusions.

Email Lian at:

lmlodzien1@live.esu.edu