Kaywyn J. Beswick, R.N./Morrison Community ARC Blood Program Leader, submitted the report and photograph.
The sixth and last community blood drive of 2023 was held from noon to 5:45 p.m., on Thursday, November 16, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 13320 Garden Plain Road, Morrison, IL. The November drive sponsor is St. Mary’s Parish Family; St. Mary’s hosts five-of-six American Red Cross blood drives yearly.
Thank you, Father Slawomir “Slawek” Zimodro and the entire church family for allowing the ARC to utilize your church hall for the blood drives; we appreciate your hospitality. Recognition goes to Knights of Columbus Knight Terry Hoehn for faithfully clearing out the church hall the day before, and always returning to the church at the end of the drive, to help put everything back into place. We are indebted to you! The terrific people who helped organize, purchase, prepare, and serve the sandwiches, cookies, cheese sticks, and juice were Lana Nugent, Connie Helms, Pam Jones, Mary Latwesen, Dee Runions, and Joan Vander Bleek. Thank you, ladies, for preparing delicious goodies for the donors, volunteers, and ARC staff; we greatly value your time and talent. The wonderful food is a lot of why donors keep returning! Acknowledgment to our volunteers who helped keep the food/drink table stocked and post-escort donors from loungers to canteen chairs. They were Dee Runions, Mary Latwesen, Vern Latwesen, Pam Jones, and Rick Barr; thank you so much for your assistance.
The ARC goal for this drive was 62, and we exceeded that goal with 115.9% efficiency. ARC staff took 73 “good units” back to Peoria. There were 70 fantastic folks who came through our doors to donate their blood products to help save lives. I am so grateful for our wonderful whole blood donors: Sara Clark, Jackie Damhoff, Stephanie Vavra, Barb Imel, Kelsie Lowery, Julie Damhoff, Ken Reynolds, Joan Vander Bleek, Lyle Bush, Bryan Vogel, Jill Ann Harmston, Kirk Pfeiffer, Dale Beswick, Kevin Hook, Cathie Downs, Lisa Nice, Stephen Sippel, Philip Olt IV, Marsha Geerts, Steve Geerts, Shanna Given, Mike Britt, Penny Milnes, Jenna Landheer, Renee Vanderlaan, Connie Tegeler, Mary Latwesen, Nancy Shank, Kaywyn Beswick, Tim Davis, Beth Wroble, Pam Shank, Amy Oudekerk, Brad Bielema, Kari Forster, Ken Gooley, Trish Kingery, Pamela Jones, Tim West, Sarah Bull, Susan Gomez, Joe R. Bielema, Tabitha Lindsay, Jen Duncan, Connie Swanson-DeSpain, Brooke Newman, Denise Dillow, and six men and one woman, who did not want their names published as blood donors in the local newspaper or on www.thecity1.com website.
Four brave people came in as first-time donors: Lory Oudekerk, Pamela Jones, Hector Ruiz Trejo, and Melanie Rolland. Thank you so very much for your courage to join the civic-minded, regularly-donating citizens who are blood donors!
Twelve trustworthy double red cell/Power Reds tribe members gave two units of packed RBCs equaling two units. They were Vern Latwesen, Evan Davis, Joseph Sage, Larry Oudekerk, Jason Hook, Tom Rosenbalm, Mel Johnson, Ron Shank, Jack Bland, Keith Wiersema, Kathleen Adams, and Dwaine Schroeder. We are grateful for your time and valuable contribution.
Ten reliable donors reached gallon pin milestones. There was one gentleman who made it to a 1-gallon pin and one gentleman who made it to a 2-gallon pin; neither wanted their names printed as blood donors. Jason Hook earned a 1-gallon pin; a 3-gallon pin was acquired by Joseph Sage; a 7-gallon pin was secured by Evan Davis. Two women earned 9-gallon pins: Stephanie Vavra and Beth Wroble. Lisa Nice will receive a 10-gallon pin; Jack Bland obtained a 12-gallon pin; Joe R. Bielema [below] attained a 19-gallon pin!
Just these ten tremendous human beings have helped save a total of 1392 lives! If you become a lifetime blood donor, imagine the impact you could make.
I need to give credit to Joe Bielema for bringing two, first-time donors with him to the blood drive. And, I’d like to challenge everyone reading this: if you are currently a regular blood donor, bring someone with you who has never donated. Or, if you have never donated blood, come in yourself as a first time donor. It is no worse than the pinch you feel getting a lab draw, and it takes less than an hour to help save up to three lives. Become a hero! Make your New Year’s resolution a part of your civic duty.
There were only six deferrals, or 8.5%; I think anything under 10% is good. Eleven persons cancelled the week of the drive, and we had seven (10%) people who were “no-shows,” with four of them registered to give doubles. I plan to message some potential donors the evening before the next drive, particularly appointments that I did not schedule, just to remind those who may “forget.” I am the same way; I like it when offices give me a reminder phone call or email, so my bad recollection isn’t so obvious. Heck, I even set reminder alarms on my phone, to jog my poor memory! It happens to us all at some point.
Forty-four persons, or 63% of our donors, filled out the Rapid Pass prior to coming to donate. This saves the donor 10-15 minutes, by having medical history questions filled out the morning of the drive.
Our next blood drive will be the first of 2024, sponsored by the Ebenezer Reformed Church Women, on Thursday, January 11, from 12:00 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. Our drives are usually the third week of the odd months, but Chicago has some big blood event the third week, so our drive has been moved to a week earlier, just for January. It should not affect people who have only donated five times in the last ten months. Whole blood donors can donate SIX times/SIX units in a 12-month period, specific to each donor based on their donation dates and types of donations.
Double Red Cell/Power Red donors can only donate FIVE units in a 12-month period, so they can give doubles twice in a year, and their third donation has to be whole blood. Not my rule; it’s an American Red Cross rule. This has been in effect all 14 years that I have been involved with the blood drives (since 2009.)
I tell our regularly faithful donors who come to every blood drive, that they probably will have to skip one blood drive every year, just because of how our calendar works. This year the September drive was on the 21st, but next year, the drive will on the 19th (due to 2024 being a Leap year.) Think about your own birthday. Last year my birthday was on a Thursday, and this year it was on a Friday; next year, with the Leap year, it will be on a Sunday.
“The ARC offered every donor at this drive a free pair of “elf” socks, in recognition of the 20th year since the movie came out in 2003.
