Morrison Community Blood Drive Program Leader Kaywyn J. Beswick, R.N., wrote this report and sent the photograph.
Thursday, September 16, 2021, was the date of the most recent American Red Cross Morrison Community Blood Drive. It was held at St. Mary Catholic Church from noon to 6:00 p.m., on schedule of the third Thursday of the odd months, which ARC has given us for the last several years. Wa-Tan-Ye was the sponsor for the drive, purchasing and preparing sandwiches and cookies given to the donors, post-donation. They were Monica Anderson, Mary Ellen Brackemyer, Ann Camp, Jan Horberg, Nancy Usterbowski, and Joan Wiebenga. Thank you, Wa-Tan-Ye, for sponsoring the September drives for the last 12+ years! We appreciate your dependable generosity to our community.
Thanks to St. Mary Catholic Church for providing the ARC with a facility to hold their blood drives for the last 16 months. Special recognition goes to the trustworthy Knights of Columbus Knight, Terry Hoehn, who readied the hall the evening before the drive, pretty much by himself, and returned after the drive was finished, to return everything to its place. Appreciation also goes to the proficient ARC certified volunteer Pat Pendgraft, who is always a huge help to everyone in the room. Extraordinary gratitude to my faithful “star” volunteers, Mary and Vern Latwesen, who came on very short notice, did two or three jobs at once, and helped throughout the entire drive.
The ARC goal for our drive was 58 good units, but we fell short of that. There were 53 wonderful donors who came through the doors, and I am thankful for every one of them. We had 51 good units retrieved, with is about 88% efficiency.
Six donors (11.5%) had to be deferred because of low hemoglobin, most missing by just 0.1-0.2 points. That does not mean that these six were anemic; it just means their blood count was not high enough to donate, and thus, not become anemic when they leave after giving a pint of blood. I encourage anyone, who has ever been deferred for low hemoglobin (including myself), to take an over-the-counter iron tablet daily for a few days before donating. ARC recommends the chewable Flintstones vitamins.
We also had six people who were scheduled, but who did not make it in (another 11.5%.) One called ill with a cold, and another went out of town unexpectedly. The ARC actually plans for around 7% deferrals and no-shows, so these numbers were a little more elevated than I like to see. Three of the six no-shows were scheduled to give double red cells, which unfortunately is six planned units not retrieved. But, actually, most of the no-shows were not scheduled by me, but by the donors themselves online or through the 1-800 number. I’m not sure if the ARC still calls people to remind them of their appointments or not, but I plan to telephone or message those donors whose appointments were not made by me, the evening before the next drive.
Out of the 53 donors, 11 of them were scheduled for double red cells/Power Reds [see below.] They give two units of packed RBCs, and only donate three times a year. The terrific people who were DRC/PR donors were Vern Latwesen, Jill Bramm, James “Dave” Boyles, Ron Shank, Dick Wieneke (photographed below), Dale Belt, and two men and a woman who did not want their names published.
The wonderfully generous whole blood donors who came in to give of their time and blood products were Stephanie Vavra, Lorna Temple, Teresa Slagle, Joan Vander Bleek, Larry Tichler, Trish Kingery, Cheryl Geiger, Mark Schuler, Mary Latwesen, Pam Shank, Luke Vander Bleek, Deb Adolph, Chris Hawkins, Beth Wroble, Steve Hook, Darlene Hook, Nancy Bartels, Kirk Pfeiffer, Christina, Saville, Brad Bielema, Mathew Newman, Dave Temple, Tim West, Joe R. Bielema, Nancy Shank, Connie Swanson-DeSpain, Susan Gomez, Kaywyn Beswick, and nine others (six men and three women) who did not want their names published. I am very grateful for ALL those who come to attempt to donate. I will not ever print the names of those who get deferred (including myself), because I think that they should still get credit for coming and trying to donate.
Every day, blood donors help patients of all ages: accident and burn victims, heart surgery and organ transplant patients, women who hemorrhage after childbirth, and those battling cancers. In fact, every two seconds, someone in the U. S. A. needs blood. That’s 30 patients every minute, 180 patients every hour, and 4320 every day. That last number is almost equal to Morrison’s total population.
It is easy to be a blood donor; it usually takes less than an hour of your time. Up-to-three people will be thankful for your generous gift of life this Thanksgiving time.
The next ARC Community Blood Drive will be held on Thursday, November 18, from noon to 6:00 p.m., at St. Mary Catholic Church, 13320 Garden Plain Road, Morrison. The Sponsor will be the Council of Catholic Women at St Mary Catholic Church. Bring your spouse, friend, coworker, or neighbor! We have good food, great music, and a rewarding atmosphere!