Alexandra VanBuren
M. Tetterton
English 1200
February 11, 2009
Blood Drive hosted by the American Red Cross
A couple of years ago when Hurricane Katrina hit, rescue missions occurred all over the
country. People pulled together to help our neighbors in a time that they needed it most. One
company in particular reached out the most: American Red Cross. Employees and volunteers
worked together to hold hundreds of clothing, toy, and food drives to help all the victims of
Hurricane Katrina. American Red Cross was also responsible for all the blood drives held to
support the injured victims. We see the trucks and vans that read ‘DONATE’ on the side of
them, but why should we exactly? I decided to attend a blood drive to find out how important
they really are.
Unfortunately, I am way to chicken to donate blood seeing as how I am deathly afraid of
needles. But I accompanied my roommate Colbie to a blood drive hosted by American Red
Cross in the clubhouse at the Landing Apartments complex. The nurse had made sure Colbie
had enough to eat. Fruits, vegetables and water are important when donating blood. When
Colbie was escorted to the apartments’ computer room, I was told I could not go back there. I
sat down with Kasey Shue, Account Manager of the Pitt County American Red Cross. She
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informed me that at this time Colbie was going through a process that must be done even before
the actual donation of blood.
The first part of the process is a physical that ever patient has to go through before the
blood donating, often referred to as a mini-physical. After a prick of her finger, Colbie gets her
blood tested for iron. Once the test comes back with good results, she has the thumbs up for the
next step. Every patient is required to take a computerized interview that lasts roughly 20
minutes. The questions asked deal with anything that would restrict you from donating blood.
One of the most common restrictions is if you are pregnant. You can not donate blood if
you are pregnant because there is no way to make sure there is enough for you and the baby.
Other factors include if you have traveled to or was born in South America or any European
countries. Mrs. Shue explained that this is a restriction because doctors in other countries do
things differently, and could cause complications with the patient’s health later on down the
road. If you have had a blood transfusion yourself in the last year, you can not donate blood.
One of the most controversial restrictions is sexual orientation. Homosexual women are indeed
allowed to give blood. Unfortunately for homosexual males, donating blood is completely out of
the questions. Some participants agree that homosexual males’ blood is ‘contaminated’ and
would harm a patient before it would help them.
After the patient has completed the survey in private, the nurse is brought back in to
review the answers, without seeing the questions. She simply looks for the word YES and if any
yes’s appear than the patient will not be able to donate blood. After this is finished, Colbie
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answered more questions about her health history. While Colbie finished this, I talked more
with Kasey.
As account manager, Kasey is in charge of promoting blood donation and arranges blood
drives all over Greenville. Excluding ECU campus and Pitt Memorial Hospital, Kasey organizes
15-20 drives a month! Her colleagues in other counties have more than 35 drives a month. One
might wonder why all this blood is needed, but accidents can happen everyday. Donated blood
helps so many sicknesses, injuries, and surgeries. 1 in 10 patients that are admitted to Pitt
Memorial Hospital receive a blood transfusion. Patients undergoing certain surgeries receive
blood because they lose so much during the procedure. Also liver diseased patient receive
transfusions. People involved in car accidents, sports injuries and delivering mothers could all
need to get blood transfusions. One of the most common patients to get a blood transfusion is
cancer patients.
Sarah Swaim, a freshman at East Carolina University, got diagnosed with Lymphoma
Leukemia at age thirteen. She started immediate treatment and was in remission by age fifteen.
During her one and a half years of treatment, she received sixteen blood transfusions. Kasey
later explained to me that the donated blood is sometimes separated into platelets, specifically for
cancer patients. During treatment, Sarah received over thirty-five platelet transfusions. Platelets
help clot your blood. Without it, if you got cut, you’d bleed to death.
After Colbie’s health history, she was taken to the bed where they would actually take the
blood. She lay back on the bed and the nurse tied a tourniquet around her left arm. After the
needle was inserted and the valve was opened, Colbie said she felt fine. The nurse then took out
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one pint of blood. That is the limit of how much blood you can take out each time you go. You
can give blood every fifty-six days. Also, one pint equals one pound so everyone comes out a
pound lighter. After the pint was completed, the nurse turned the valve off. All of the sudden,
Colbie’s eyes rolled and she told the nurse that she didn’t feel too good. Her head fell back to
the pillow. The nurse then threw Colbie’s legs back until they were sticking straight up in the
air. After about 6 minutes, Colbie was just fine. I was almost about to sit in the chair and give
blood myself but seeing that scared me even more than I was before. Kasey said the best advice
to give to someone who was as scared as me would be to not look. Now that Colbie was all
bandaged, she was being escorted to canteen.
Canteen is a 10 minute holding room for anyone who donates blood. It is to make sure
that the donor does not faint while driving home or get dizzy. In there they serve cookies and
juice to gain back blood sugar and energy.
I have decided that this might have been the best example of citizenship and community
that I could think of. Donating blood does not only save the lives of people who are sick with
deathly diseases. It also saves people who get in accidents. Children, babies, teenagers, the
elderly and grown ups in all share the help that the American Red Cross gives. To me,
citizenship is the right to help others. As citizens of America, we should help our neighbors that
are unable to help themselves. What if somewhere down the road I get sick, one my friends got
into a car accident, or my little brother got hurt on the football field? I would feel much better
knowing that I donated blood for someone else going through the same thing. I plan on giving
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blood in the near future. After talking with Kasey Shue, Sarah Swaim and Colbie, I realized that
I maybe scared of needles, but someone out there is scared of dying, and that my blood may help
them. It is so important to donate blood, and I am happy that I realized that now.