Students boarded red and blue bloodmobiles Sept. 13 and 14 parked near the Quad to take part in saving lives.
Blood Source, a not-for-profit regional blood center for Northern California, brings mobile buses to City College four times a year offering students and staff an opportunity to donate blood before, after or in between classes.
According to Brie Leon, account manager for Blood Source, the blood drive was a success, collecting 228 pints of blood.
“[It’s] very rare to collect the same amount but nonetheless an amazing turnout,” said Leon when comparing the number of donated pints—228—between last year and this year’s blood drive at City College.
The process usually takes between 45 minutes to 1 hour but with high volume of donors many students waited in line for up to 30 minutes before beginning the donation process.
“[Waiting in line] is not typical,” said Leon. “But for large blood drives where we aren’t sure what the turn out will be, it happens from time to time.”
City College Health Services Center organizes the drives with Blood Source and is working towards adding another “bloodmobile” to the fleet.
“There are so many people that want to donate that don’t have time to sit and wait,” said Health Services Center nurse Wendy Gomez. “We have three [bloodmobiles] but we want four to meet the high demand of donors.”
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According to Leon, the number of participants seen this fall would typically require four buses to avoid long lines.
“We saw 143 the first day and 145 the second. People also couldn’t wait so I am sure we lost donors due to that,” Leon said. “But with that type of turnout we would need a fourth bloodmobile to get people through in a timely manner.”
Gomez says she witnessed the significance of donating blood while working as an ICU nurse.
“It absolutely saves lives,” said Gomez. “We gave a lot of blood every day, without that blood those people wouldn’t live.”
Blood Source organizes blood drives daily all over Northern California in effort to meet the constant demand for blood.
“One pint of blood can save up to 3 lives. We never know when a major accident is going to occur or when unknown causes may spike the demand for blood. Blood is a perishable product lasting only 42 days,” Leon said. “We have between 1-13 blood drives everyday to make sure we can meet the demand of our 40 hospitals in Northern California. On average we need to collect 700 pints of blood every day.”
Bloodmobiles will return to City College Feb. 7 and 8 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information visit: www.bloodsource.org
