Kaywyn J. Beswick, R.N./ARC Blood Program Team Leader for Morrison Community Blood Drives, submitted this report and shirt photos.
Two regular blood donors and volunteers, Vern and Mary Latwesen, wore their Shark Week donor shirts given at the previous blood drive. The brown shirt was given to donors at the September 15, 2022, drive.
The fifth 2022 Morrison, IL, Community American Red Cross Blood Drive was held at St. Mary Catholic Church, 13320 Garden Plain Road. We appreciate that St. Mary allows us to use their church hall for the blood drives. Special thanks to the Knights of Columbus for helping to clear the hall out the evening before every blood drive, and returning the next day to place everything back into proper arrangement. Thank you, gentlemen. They were Terry Hoehn, Jim Fisher, and another gentleman from the church who did not want his name printed. Sponsoring the canteen for the September drives has been the women of Wa-Tan-Ye. Those who purchased and prepared sandwiches and cookies to feed the donors, volunteers, and staff were Ann Camp, Joan Wiebenga, Jan Horberg, Clarita Vandermyde, Monica Anderson, Nancy Usterbowski, and Dee Janssen. Thank you, ladies. Volunteers who assisted us in the drive room were Mary and Vern Latwesen, Pat Pendgraft, and Irma Russell; thank you for your dependability and expertise. Donors were also given Army green t-shirts that said, “Good things happen when you give,” from from the ARC, in gratitude to the donors.
There were 64 wonderful donors that came through our doors, and 66 total units taken to Peoria, IL. Only seven people were deferred, either for too low of hemoglobin or too high of their heart rate and/or blood pressure. “No Shows” were only five, which is better than we have had for the last several blood drives. I have been contacting those who make appointments on their own and not through me, because they are usually the ones who do not come in. Our regular faithful donors are usually very dependable and show up unfailingly. The remarkable presenting whole blood donors were Niki Strohmayer, Nancy Bartels, Julie Brown, Lyle Bush, Stephanie Vavra, Bryan Vogel, Dale Beswick, Julie Damhoff, Barb Imel, Mary Latwesen, Deb Adolph, Stephen Sippel, Brad Bielema, Phil Olt IV, Mark Schuler, Lisa Nice, Teresa Slagle, Tammy Pruis, Joan Vander Bleek, Luke Vander Bleek, Martha Kophamer, Chris Hawkins, Pam Shank, Nancy Shank, Kevin Medenblik, Penny Milnes, Connie Tegeler, Valerie Geary, Sarah Bull, Jeffrey Williams, Carolyn Aiken, Keith Lilly, James “Jason” Harden, Keith Wiersema, Tim West, Naumie “Renee” Vanderlaan, Joe R. Bielema, Matt Hill, Dave Temple, Melinda Cadogan, Kari Forster, Susan Gomez, Kelly Smith, Megan Huffman, David Stickel, Connie Swanson DeSpain, Beth Wroble, Kevin Feller, Kaywyn Beswick, and six men and two women, who did not want their names published as blood donors. I know who you are, and you are very much appreciated. Nine donors gave Double Red Cell, aka Power Reds, which is the equivalent of two units. They were Vern Latwesen, Larry Barker, Duane Imel, Harvey Tegeler, Richard “Dick” Wieneke, Terry Jones, and three gentlemen who did not want their names published. Again, I know who you are, and you also are very much appreciated.
There is a new rule that is being enforced by the ARC. They no longer allow donors to arrive really early and donate earlier than their time. The reason is that donors that have appointments made have complained that people (early donors and walk-ins both) were going ahead of them and causing their appointment to go longer than the expected hour. The ARC is asking that donors come no earlier than ten minutes before their assigned time. This will prevent too large of an amount of people in the waiting area, and allow for a better flow of donors. Some donors were not happy with this new rule; actually, three of them left upset. But all three did return at the time that the ARC requested, and two ended up donating. One ended up waiting too long and had to leave. Also one of the walk-ins had to leave after waiting. The ARC Charge Shannon Andrews has been known to me for several years, and she is an excellent leader. She reported to me towards the end of the drive that the staff were shorthanded by two staff persons. One got called to military duty the day before the drive (too short of notice to fill their spot on the team of awesome crew!) That adds up to five staffers doing the work of seven people. Hopefully, this explanation helps soften the wound for those who ended up waiting so long. The ARC staff has told me numerous times that the donors at our community drives are almost always very understanding and gracious when they are given reasons for rules and delays. I am very proud of all kindhearted folks who come to give an hour of their time, in order to save up-to-three lives, by giving a precious part of themselves! There is no substitution for human blood products. So, we need people to continue to donate for cancer patients, trauma patients, surgical patients, and anemic patients. We all know someone who has received some sort of blood product, so we all have a good reason to donate. If you cannot donate because of a medical reason, consider volunteering, or give a monetary gift to the Red Cross. On a positive note, Shannon reported to the staff and to me that there were no QNS (Quantity Not Sufficient) units at all. This is a big deal! These are units that clot off or quit flowing. Kudos to the proficient staff and the donors for drinking enough water before donating!
The next Morrison Community ARC Blood Drive will be on Thursday, November 17, (the Thursday before Thanksgiving.) It will be held at St. Mary Church from noon to 6:00 p.m. You can make an appointment by contacting me by text or voicemail to 815-718-5117, or on Facebook Messenger. You can also make an appointment online at www.redcross.org at your convenience. Please make sure if signing up on line, that you make a correct appointment for your correct blood type; Power Red donors have to be O+, O-, A-, B-, or AB- in order to donate the double red cell/Power Reds. Also, the Red Cross website has lots of great information.
The sponsor for the November 17 drive will be the St. Mary Parish Family and Council of Catholic Women. We hope to give out a fresh baked pie to all the donors!