Bleeding Love: Delaware Technical’s 24th Blood Drive
By Tiffany Towles
The Blood Bank of Delmarva in collaboration with MALTA held its 24th Blood Drive on Oct. 8 at Delaware Technical Community College's Owens campus.
The drive, held in the gym of the Jason Technology Center, was stocked with enough walk-in appointments to warrant its own waiting list, said Delmarva Blood Bank Kent and Sussex county Account Executive Alexis Innis. The outlook was better than expected, with roughly 70 people scheduling to donate at http://donate.bbd.org/. The rest of the appointments quickly filled up the rest of the event's anticipated 100 appointments, she said.
The Blood Bank of Delmarva serves the entire Delmarva Peninsula, supplying all 16 of its hospitals in its network along the coast with blood. College and high school blood drives provide 11 percent of blood the bank collects, averaging about 8500-8800 pints of blood a year.
"It's one of those things that you take for granted," Innis said. "You assume that blood's going to be there when you need it, until you need it."
Around 350 pints of blood are needed on the peninsula daily, which makes this contribution astounding, she said.
"It's good to do something great for someone else,” she said.” You could literally save a life.”
Most of the students who donated were returning students who have been with the blood bank since high school, and are aware of the protocol, Innis said. The Blood Bank of Delmarva tries forming a relationship to continue promoting repeat donors, she said.
"Ideally we would like blood donation to be something like going to the gym or going to your annual physical," Innis said. "You just look forward to doing it two, three, four times a year; make your appointment and just keep going regularly."
Delaware Technical Medical Lab Technician Program Coordinator Linda Collins said the turnout is often excellent for the blood drive, with roughly 80 people donating on average. There are approximately four beneficiaries of each collection, so around 270 people are supplied blood with this drive alone, she said.
Collins is the coordinator of the blood drive, and has been working in connection with the Medical Assistant Laboratory Technician Association (MALTA) to organize the drive. MLT students in MALTA, the oldest club to make its appearance at Delaware Tech, are responsible for sponsoring and assisting the blood drive, she said.
The blood drive has only been occurring once every year for the last 22 years. It started drawing on both semesters for two years now, she said. This semester is the first time that it has been held in the gym, previously being in the Carter Partnership building.
"It was in the Carter building before, so we moved it to the gym," Collins said. "So it's easier access for the students and staff and faculty to get to."
Delaware Technical Community College MLT Student Jordan Perry, 23, was one of many MLT volunteers to donate blood. Perry has her Bachelor's in Health Science, and has been donating blood for five years.
While the MLT students cannot draw blood themselves, they still seek to be a part of the action as well, she said.
"We're kind of all over the place," Perry said. "Some of us are recruiting people to come in; some of us are sitting at the canteen to make sure people have a minute to sit and eat and drink before they leave; but most of us are donating as well."
Anyone interested in registering for the Spring blood drive can begin scheduling when they return from Winter break. As 56 days is the minimum wait period for donators, anyone who donated in the Fall drive and also make a return trip to the Spring one. Any questions can be directed to Linda Collins at ext. 6610.