Last week, Ouachita hosted a two-day blood drive with the Arkansas Blood Institute. Students, staff, and faculty were encouraged to attend the drive Wednesday and Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Tiger Den.
The Arkansas Blood Institute, located in Little Rock, goes day to day from a radius of 3 hours from Little Rock in order to set up blood drives. Some drives are set up inside buildings, like the one at Ouachita, but the Institute also has a mobile buses called “donor coaches” for donors to get on and give blood.
Clifton C, a phlebotomist with the Blood Institute, explained the process of getting blood at these various drives.
“We allow 45 minutes just to set up at a place and then we start drawing, and then with 45 minutes to break everything down and to clean up. Kinda like how the fair works, you know?” Clifton said.
The Blood Institute has recruiters who find places to set up drives, anywhere from schools to busy gas stations or businesses. The idea is to find places where a lot of people come in and out every day, to spread the word of what the Arkansas Blood Institute does.
Many volunteers who work with the Arkansas Blood Institute apply to the company, but sometimes retired medical personnel will volunteer at certain locations.
“And we’ll tell them that they can be our designated volunteer for their city every time we come out. They come in, set up the snacks, greet the donors, get them signed in and all that,” Clifton said. “And most of them are like, ‘Oh yeah! I’ll do that every time!’”
The Blood Institute tends to come to certain areas four times throughout the year. In Arkadelphia though, they tend to show up more often between Henderson and Ouachita’s campuses as well as the high school and other locations.
Donors come from all different backgrounds and for many different reasons. The top reasons are altruistic, directive, and therapeutic in nature.
“We hear stories of helping those that are in need, some people are just doing it for the community service, and some do it because they need the therapeutic draw from it,” Clifton said.
Some people give for directive purposes. This is when they know someone that needs blood and they will give directly to that person, or in that person’s name.
Others give because they want to help out generally. Such is the story of Ouachita student Ryan Graves, freshman Christian Studies major from Mountain Pine, Ark. Graves participated in the blood drive Wednesday for the second time.
“This is something that, in all honesty, saves lives,” Graves said. “I can think of a number of different children that I’ve even had interactions with that have benefited from practices such as these. Especially most of those being cancer patients, if they can go through what they went through, I can put up with a little needle for 45 minutes.”
Clifton C. of the Arkansas Blood Institute explained another reason people give blood. Some people with really high iron have been prescribed giving blood as a form of therapy.
“The higher the iron is, the thicker the blood, and it slows you down a little bit,” Clifton said. “When they give blood, it drops their iron down a couple points and they start to feel better over time.”
Regardless of the donors’ motives, it is obvious that giving blood saves lives.
“Every time you donate whole blood, you save three lives,” Clifton said. “Someone can get your red cells, someone can get your plasma, and someone can get your platelets. So three people, every time.”
