Kaywyn Beswick noted, “In September, we will be back at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 13320 Garden Plain Road, for our fall drive, which is sponsored by Wa-Tan-Ye. Come to the drive with your spouse/partner, friend, coworker, or neighbor. Bring a new donor with you, and receive a gift card! The drive will be held on Thursday, September 17, from noon to 6:00 p.m. Appointments save you time, but walk-ins are always welcome.”
We indeed are living in unprecedented times. Every aspect of our lives has been altered in some way or another; donating blood is no exception. The Morrison, IL, American Red Cross blood drive was held Thursday, May 21, 2020, from noon to 6:00 p.m., at St. Mary’s Catholic Church Hall on Garden Plain Road. Parish members were the sponsor for the day. They now sponsor two blood drives a year as part of their mission to give back to our great community.
Anyone living on Garden Plain Road and all the way down to Fenton, IL, knows that we lost power that afternoon. That never happened in my 11 years of coordinating blood drives. It was out for about 15 minutes, and, once resumed, the blood drive went on. I am not sure how many units were lost during that time. I think that there was only one unit lost, having to convert a double red into just one unit retrieved. I am so sorry for those lying on the donor loungers at the time of the power failure, as they had a longer donation time due to the delay.
We had a volunteer helper who had never been at one of my blood drives before. He signed up online as a volunteer and was told to come to the Morrison drive, but we did not know he was coming. I am all for having lots of help. He had training in the COVID-19 extra safety measures that have been put into place. So, “Dan from Coal Valley[, IL,]” ended up teaching us some things. We taught Dan a few things that we do in Morrison, so it was teaching and learning process for all of us. Taking temperatures at the door is one safety measure that we were also doing in March.
Making everyone entering the building wear a face mask proved to be an issue, too. A donor who had a normal temperature at the door, put his face mask on; he was wearing a hat and a long-sleeved shirt. By the time his temperature was taken for the health history, it was too high to donate. He not only was deferred from donating blood, but he also was told that he could not stay as a volunteer, which he had offered to do, and actually did do at the March drive. ARC says they are looking at the mask/temperature issue, as it has caused numerous donors to be deferred around our district. Our deferred donor was able to get scheduled at a drive a few days later in Dixon, IL, and is back on schedule to give with us in September.
Another issue was that several people did not sign the “yes/publish or no/do not publish” clipboard. (I figured at least nine people did not sign either.) It isn’t a huge deal. The reason I have two clipboards is that I have been scolded for putting someone’s name in the Sentinel or thecity1.com who did not want it published, and I’ve been scolded for not publishing someone’s name who wanted it published! Dan was not used to doing that at other drives where he had volunteered, so he did not make sure that everyone signed. If you did not sign one of the lists, I am not publishing your name in this report. Please talk to me at the September drive, if it is an issue for you.
We also had an issue with walk-ins. The ARC presently is asking that people do not walk into a drive. Make an appointment, even if you cannot keep it, or if you will be early or late. They are trying to fill time slots, in order to control “social distancing,” which has become our new norm. If you want to be a walk-in, please call me or text me (815-718-5117) before the blood drive begins at noon, and I will put your name into a time slot. A young lady cancelled that morning, because she went out of town unexpectedly, so she sent her father to fill her slot. I was all for that, but some of the ARC staff were less than happy about it. The drive also initially had 65 appointments, but by mid-May, the appointment count went up to 80. You all know me; I’m going to try to fill them all! That’s why some call me “The Vampire!”
With all the obstacles, we still exceeded goal! ARC had a goal of 57 units. We collected 60 units with 63 presenting donors, giving us an efficiency of 105.3%. Thirteen people did not make it into their scheduled drive appointment to donate, and we had 10 deferrals, which is on the high side for us. There were several reasons for deferral (higher-than-allowed temperature, low hemoglobin, blood pressure too high, heart rate/pulse too fast, recent surgery, an infection, and travel out of the Country. All in all, we saved approximately 180 lives that day! I think that is a great statistic!
There are always so many people to thank. The Knights of Columbus helped clear the church hall before the truck came and helped put everything back after the truck left: Terry Hoehn, Jim Fisher, and Mark Zinnen. I am grateful for your eagerness to always lend a hand. Two Rotary gentlemen showed up to help unload the truck: Mark Schuler and Jim Camp. I appreciate your faithfulness. Terrific St. Mary’s Catholic Church members who purchased, prepared, and served the food for donors and worked at several stations in the room: Lana Nugent, Lana’s out-of-town friend Vicki Huizenga, Jane Swearingen, Fran Plude, Connie Helms, Mary Jane Linke, Betsy Prombo, Joan Vander Bleek, Sheila Sonberg, and Mary and Vern Latwesen. Thank you, Parish Family.
Last, but certainly not least, I want to continuously thank our dependable blood donors. You always come through to help us meet and exceed ARC’s goal. We even had a few blood donors “new to Morrison drives” come out! Terrific donors were David Brandon, Jr., Randy Kuehl, Cal Vandermyde, Julie Damhoff, Heather Chandler, Stephanie Vavra, Sheila Sonberg, Mark Schuler, Keith Hamstra, Luke Vander Bleek, Pam Shank, Tom Goodensoph, Lisa Nice, Brad Bielema, Ken Gooley, Chris Hawkins, Carolyn Aiken, John Boelkens, Mary Boelkens, Sarah Bull, Joyce Barsema, Alice Beveroth, Virginia Ewurs, Margaret Barr, Beth Wroble, Taylor Benters, Joyce Hamstra, Lori Ploenzke, David Temple, Dawn Huffstutler, Malinda Ritchie, Nancy Shank, Joe R. Bielema, Susan Gomez, Kari Forster, Barb Imel, Kaywyn Beswick, and 11 women and eight men who did not sign to have their names published. Ten wonderful Double Red Cell/Power Red donors gave the equivalent of two units: Tom DeMay, Craig Brady, Kelly Smith, John (Jack) Bland, James Shirk, Dick Wieneke, Duane Imel, and two men who did not sign to have their names published.
Every two seconds, someone in the U. S. A. needs blood. Your donation assists patients of all ages; accident and burn victims; heart surgery and organ transplant patients; those pregnant and having babies; those battling cancers. All blood types are needed, but O negative is the first line of defense in an emergency room with a trauma patient whose blood type is unknown. Your single, whole blood unit can help more than one patient, actually saving up to three lives. Approximately 36,000 units of red blood cells, aka packed RBCs, are needed every day in the U. S. A.; so double red cell/power red donors are giving two packed RBC units with every donation. RBCs must be transfused/used within 42 days.
When I first started coordinating blood drives in 2009, about 37% of the U. S. population was eligible to donate, and only seven percent actually donated regularly. In 2020, the percent of U. S. population that donates is down to only 3%. That is a scary statistic. There is no “Synthetic Substitute” for blood products! Please, please, please consider giving blood. Ask any of these people listed above about how easy it is to donate.
The next Morrison ARC blood drive was the Jen Banks Memorial Blood Drive on Saturday, July 18, at the SuperWash Building behind Family Chef/Shell Station on W. Lincolnway. Her family and teacher friends manage that blood drive.