Red Cross hosts blood drive at PNW Hammond campus

The American Red Cross is holding a two-day blood drive on the Hammond campus Sept. 21-22 in SULB Alumni Hall from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Jan Coska, account manager for donor recruitment and coordinator for PNW, working with the American Red Cross in Merrillville, said that the goal of the blood drive is to raise the community spirit and knowledge for the need of blood. She said the blood drives date back to 2004 and that at least one is conducted every semester. “We aim to restore hope, save lives and help the community. The universities, colleges and schools are the next generation who need to give back to the community by donating blood,”

Lori Caputo, manager IOR north district for donor recruitment, at American Red Cross, said. The drive aims to collect donations from around 130 students pre-registered for the donation. Walk-ins will also be accommodated based on the capacity for each day. Caputo said they collect blood from healthy donors after they undergo physical tests like that of blood pressure and body temperature. Caputo said the donated blood undergoes cautious screening and 14 to 16 different tests that ensure that unfit blood is not processed for the hospitals. In case a donor forgets to inform the donation collection personnel about any disease or medication, etc. that he or she is using, the donor can do so after donating blood using the unique number written on the post donation sheet given to him or her by the American Red Cross personnel. This also helps to ensure that unfit blood does not reach the needy.

“PNW has always had a good number of donors. In 2015, we conducted seven blood drives and collected 372 units of blood,”, Caputo said. “When one person donates blood, it helps to save three lives. Blood is not manufactured, and is not in stock.” The donations are taken to the labs for testing and, after passing a series of tests, are sent to the hospitals. The blood is mainly used in emergency rooms, for burn victims and for the cancer platelets.

In order to save their time while answering the questions of the blood collection personnel, before donating blood, donors can visit http:// www.redcrossblood.org/ rapidpass and answer all the questions online and bring a print out or soft copy of the acknowledgement to the blood collection spot. This can help save around 15 to 20 minutes of their time. The American Red Cross personnel expressed the hope that they expect a better number of donations this year compared to the past years.