Blood drive draws overwhelming turnout, students' blood

This week's four−day blood drive, sponsored by the Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS) in conjunction with the American Red Cross, has met with particularly high student turnout that has overwhelmed short−staffed Red Cross workers.

Close to 200 students made appointments for the first three days of the blood drive, according to senior Jenna Dargie, one of the drive's coordinators. She expects approximately 70 more students to turn out for the final portion of the drive, which ends today.

Blood drive volunteers had to turn donors away from scheduled appointments in Carmichael Lounge due to a shortage of Red Cross staff, according to Dargie.

"They were scheduled to work but then they called in sick," Dargie said. "They were just understaffed."

"For the most part it has been going well," sophomore Ashley Seenauth, another coordinator, said. "It was rough on Monday," she said, but added that the drive had gone more smoothly the rest of the week.

Blood drive organizers said they had received an overwhelmingly positive student response.

"We've had record numbers of appointments being made for this drive," Seenauth, who is also a staff photographer for the Daily, said.

"We always get a really good response from Tufts," Terri LeSage, a Red Cross supervisor overseeing the event, told the Daily.

The LCS holds three blood drives a year at Tufts, one during the fall semester and two in the spring, according to Seenauth. Dargie said that 187 people donated blood at the LCS' most recent spring drive.

Students who donated blood said the process was easy and stress−free.

"I was a little bit scared, but not so much now," freshman Christina Pan, a first−time blood donor, said before giving blood. Freshman Nathan Lingafelter waited in the Carmichael Lounge to donate blood. "They say it's the easiest three lives you'll ever save," Lingafelter said, adding that he has given blood "quite a bit" in the past." It's kind of silly not to do it," he said. "All you have to do is sit in a chair."

"This was the first time I didn't feel like I wanted to die after giving blood," senior Julie Bloch said. She said workers were processing student donors quickly.

Bloch thought the blood drive could have been better publicized to the student body. "I wish they would send out e−mails" to the entire university, she said.

Blood drive coordinators attempted to make outreach for the event this year more personal, according to Dargie.

"Our goal was to get volunteers more involved in publicity, so we really pushed them to try to make class announcements," Dargie said.

"One of the best ways that we think that we really tried to push this year is just getting people to try to talk to their friends," Dargie said. "People can be afraid of the process if [they don't understand] what the process is like."

Dargie said volunteers also hung up posters across campus and created a Facebook event.

Approximately 30 students actively volunteered, according to Dargie.

Blood drive organizers emphasized the importance of holding blood drives at colleges and universities.

"If you get students early in their life, I think they're more willing to go on and donate" later on, LeSage said.

The New England branch of the Red Cross is in critical need of donations from O negative and B negative blood types, although Tufts' drive accepts donors of every blood type, LeSage said.

The New England region has need for 15,000 pints of blood a day, according to LeSage.

"Just one donation can be used up to three different times. One person could potentially save three different lives," Dargie said. "It's such a simple process, and it has a big impact."