Students were offered a opportunity to make a contribution to those in need during this semester’s blood drive on Nov. 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Grace Hall Atrium.
The Cabrini community eagerly showed their intent to help save lives through their donations.
“I know I’m helping out others,” Elena Cruz, sophomore English major, said. “I’ve been giving blood every year since I was 18-years-old.”
Others graciously stepped out of their comfort zones and decided to help out the cause by giving blood. One such volunteer was Devin McKenna. McKenna graduated from Cabrini in 2005 and decided to come back for this particular event.
“I have never given blood before,” McKenna said. “I’m doing this because I know it is a good way to help people and that it can be hard to find someone’s exact type. I’m definitely a little nervous, but I hear it helps to look away.”
The volunteers encouraged other students to give blood whenever the opportunity is available to them.
“It’s not nearly as bad as most people make it out to be,” Cruz said. “It really is a good cause.”
“There is no other way to obtain blood other than through donations,” Sue Fitzgerald, coordinator of Student Health Services and school nurse, said. “Giving blood is a really easy way to have an impact on others’ lives.”
“It’s more important than most people think,” Anders Aronson, junior exercise science major, said. “I know that if any of my family members were ever put in a situation where they needed blood, I would want to be the one to give it to them.”
Aronson also said that there is a lack of volunteers who donate to this most worthy cause.
“It is such a rewarding experience to know you can help people like this,” Aronson said. “There is a brief wooziness afterwards, but it is completely worth it. It’s important and it’s very relevant. Besides, your body reproduces blood every 90 days, so it’s not unhealthy.”
Fitzgerald said blood cannot be duplicated and doctors cannot make it, so by donating blood, you are saving lives. The average life span of a red blood cell is four months. Because of this, you can give blood every 56 days. Just one donation alone can save the lives of up to three people.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, only 37 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood and less than 10 percent do so annually.
Fitzgerald said all of the units of blood collected at the blood drive will stay local and are not shipped outside of the region.
“The human body is constantly making new blood all the time,” Fitzgerald said. “There is no real benefit to your health from giving blood. Unless of course you count the real sense of accomplishment you feel afterwards.”
