Kaywyn J. Beswick, R.N./ARC Morrison Blood Drive Coordinator, submitted this report. Editor’s note: Pictured is Lynn Reimer, at a previous donation event.
The second American Red Cross Blood Drive of 2017 was held on Thursday, March 16, at Morrison United Methodist Church, 200 W. Lincolnway, Morrison, IL. It was sponsored by the Methodist Mission Group. We are so grateful to MUMC for not only letting us have the blood drives in their wonderful facility, but that the Missions Group managed the kitchen and canteen. The women purchased, prepared, and served delicious sandwiches, beverages, and desserts. They were Jean Tichler, Mary Vos, and Deanna McClain. Thank you ladies for all your expertise and hard work. I appreciate good help!
Other volunteers who helped were Maisie Renkes, Carole Patton, Bridie Bartnicke, Sandy Schroeder, Marilyn Akker, and Marilyn Habben. Thank you to these faithful ladies who answer the call to help out whenever I ask. And, as always, great appreciation to the Kiwanis who helped unload the truck with all their equipment and supplies; they were Nick Becker, and Len and Leveda Ashlin. Thanks for your dependability.
We had eight people give double-red-cells: Janet Baumgardt, Gene Habben, Harvey Tegeler, Brittany Slater, Jack Bland, Tom DeMay, Dwaine Schroeder, and one gentleman who did not want his name printed as a donor. Those who are eligible to donate double-red-cells are the people with both positive and negative O, and all the other negative blood types, and who meet height and weight requirements.
There were two first-time donors: Darlene Smith and Aaron Swanson. Thank you so much for joining the ranks; we hope that you two will become regular blood donors.
There were three pins handed out. Janet Manchester was awarded a 3-gallon pin, Lynn Reimer received a 9-gallon pin, and Chris Hawkins earned a 13-gallon pin. These three people alone have given 72, 216, and 312 units, respectively, totaling 600 units, and helped 600 people! Who says that you cannot make a difference? Also, I inadvertently left out of the January report that Evan Haag received a 3-gallon pin, totaling 72 units, and helped 216 people!
Other terrific whole blood donors gave their time and a personal gift of themselves in order to save lives. They were Mary Black, Cheryl Geiger, Kim Mulnix, Nan Carlson, Renee Vanderlaan, Bill Anderson, Randy Kuehl, Dick Wieneke, Brad Bielema, Amy Oudekerk, Keith Hamstra, Kristine Honeycutt, Evan Haag, Barbara Kophamer, Joyce Hamstra, Judy McCulloh, Jim Prombo, Margaret Barr, Tim West, Destiny Sumner, Connie Helms, Stephanie Vavra, Kari Forester, Dom Mucci, Beth Wroble, Pam Shank, Nancy Shank, Connie Swanson-DeSpain, Brooke Newman, Kiana Aude, Kaywyn Beswick, and eight women and five men who did not want their names in print. I am so very appreciative to all the people who donate, help out, send food/groceries/cookies, and send monies (our sponsors) to purchase the foodstuffs. We could not supply our area with over 300 units of blood without all of you contributing your time, skills, gifts, and critically-needed blood products. It takes many hands to keep our well-oiled machine running smoothly.
The ARC goal for Morrison was 44, and we had 58 units collected; that’s 132% above goal! We had 11 walk-ins, which was about 20% of the participants. That is a low number, as our average is usually about 33% of the drive partakers. Only three people were deferred, around 5%, which is a great number. ARC expects about a 7% deferral rate for most drives.
Go to www.redcrossblood.org for more information. Here are some interesting facts about blood.
- Every two seconds, someone in the U. S. A. needs blood. That is 30 people a minute, 180 people every hour, and 4320 patients every day. Lots of patients require more than one unit.
- Nearly 21 million blood components are transfused each year in the U. S. A.
- The blood used in an emergency is already on the shelves in the laboratory before the event occurs.
- The blood type most often requested by hospitals is type O.
- A single car accident victim can require as many as 100 pints of blood products.
- Type O negative red blood cells can be transfused to patients of all other blood types. It is always in great demand and often in short supply.
- Type AB positive plasma can be transfused to patients of all other blood types. It is also usually in short supply.
The saddest statistic is that about 37% of the U. S. population is eligible to donate blood, but only about seven percent actually are regular blood donors. That makes my heart hurt, when I know several names on the lists of potential donors never come in to donate. Diabetics can donate. People with Hypertension (high blood pressure) can donate. Patients taking prescription medications can donate. Call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-7332767) if you have questions.
Our next blood drive is scheduled for Thursday, May 18, from noon to 6:00 p.m. at Morrison United Methodist Church. The May Sponsor is Bethesda Lutheran Church. Come enjoy good food, great music, and fun comradery. Bring a friend, or coworker, or spouse, or neighbor!