How many students are you expecting at the blood drive this year?
We usually get approximately 100 students each day. This is the standard number for each drive we do. In the end, 100 appointments equals approximately 85 pints of usable blood per day.
What is your goal for the drive?
My goal is to get 100 pints each day in the spring blood drive. The blood drive always runs over two days.
What other activities does the Red Cross participate in?
Unfortunately, the Red Cross club had a lot of trouble finding interested club members and volunteers this year. So if anyone is interested in a membership or even an officer position in the Red Cross club, I’d love to hear from you.
Where do the nurses come from? Are they all associated with the Red Cross?
The Red Cross hires nurses and phlebotomists to assist with the blood drive. All of the Red Cross blood drive employees are specially licensed and go through an extensive training program. These Red Cross specialists come from all over the state to assist with blood drives in the southern Connecticut region.
Tell us about the local blood shortage.
The blood shortage is an on-going problem nationwide. Only 5 percent of all eligible donors actually volunteer to donate blood. Since I’m in charge of recruitment of donors, I can attest to the fact that a large percentage of healthy adults simply elect not to donate to fears of needles. It’s quite the struggle to full up the appointment sheet every semester. The Red Cross is making the donation process a lot easier, by eliminating the “wait time” rules on tattoos and piercings. While travel (such as studying abroad) limits donor eligibility at Fairfield, I’d guess that over 80 percent of the current student population is an eligible donor.
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