Blood drive hosted by University of Arkansas helps to save lives Special

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Kay

By Kay Mathews

Sep 4, 2010 in Health

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By Kay Mathews.

Fayetteville, AR – It is the 15th year that the University of Arkansas has hosted blood drives for the Community Blood Center of the Ozarks where “one donation saves 3 lives right here in Northwest Arkansas!”

The Community Blood Center of the Ozarks (CBCO) held a fall blood drive in the Union Ballroom at the University of Arkansas Aug. 30 – Sept. 1. As Lora Johnson, a representative of CBCO, told DigitalJournal.com, “The university has hosted blood drives with us since we were founded in 1995.”

All donors were asked to eat well, drink extra fluids, feel healthy, and weigh at least 110 pounds before registering to donate blood. After making their donations, donors were given a t-shirt and snacks in appreciation for giving lifesaving blood.

A number of UA students participated in the event, both as donors and as volunteers. One student who gave blood was Tracie Sconyers, a junior from Monkey Island, Oklahoma.

Kay Mathews

Tracie Sconyers, a junior at the University of Arkansas, donates blood at the CBCO blood drive. Fayetteville, Arkansas. August 30, 2010.

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In the notification of the event was the statement “One donation saves 3 lives right here in Northwest Arkansas!” When asked to elaborate on what that statement meant, Johnson said:

Using a centrifuge machine, we are able to separate the blood into 3 components. Red blood cells are transfused most often after trauma, surgery or anemia. Platelets are needed to support cancer therapy, open-heart surgery, treatment of blood disorders, and organ transplants. They must be transfused within 5 days of donation. Plasma is used to treat patients with certain bleeding disorders and patients that require plasma exchanges.

Kay Mathews

File photo: A bag of donated blood.

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While the blood drive did not reach its goal of 245 units, Johnson said that “192 units” were collected. She talked about the importance of each unit donated, saying, “Blood plays a vital role in delivering essential medical services to patients in our community. In fact, a blood transfusion is administered to patients here in the Ozarks every five minutes.”

And, according to the CBCO, the not-for-profit organization “supplies all of the blood transfused in thirty-seven area hospitals located in thirty-eight counties in southwest Missouri, northwest Arkansas, and southeast Kansas.”

When asked to describe the process for ensuring that the blood is not tainted in any way before it is distributed to hospitals, Johnson replied:

CBCO strictly follows FDA guidelines when it comes to testing of donated blood. Each donation is tested for almost a dozen blood borne diseases, including Hepatitis, HIV and West Nile Virus. In terms of donor safety, CBCO uses sterile, single-use needles and procedures that have evolved over hundreds of thousands of blood donations.