2008 Woodie Awards
Blood shed by UIC police at annual blood drive
Margaret Czopor
Issue date: 11/6/06 Section: Pulse
-
Page 1 of 1
Held at the 7th district Police Station on Maxwell Street behind PEB, UIC police hosted their annual blood drive on Oct. 26 and 27. Each year, the UIC police allow the hospital to hold a blood drive in their station each year around the holidays.
"We have the UIC hospital come to us, so that the police officers can donate blood when they have a free moment," said Craig Moran, blood drive coordinator.
The UIC police station has been hosting the blood drive for four years now. On average, around 20 people a day show up to donateblood. Most of the donors are police officers, but every once in a while a UIC student stops in.
"This [blood drive] gives the officers an opportunity to give a little around the holidays," said Moran.
During the holiday season, blood and platelet inventories drop to critically low levels, while the number of patients requiring transfusions increases.
"Donations go down around the holiday season because people aren't around and they're preoccupied," said Samantha DiMaggio, Blood Coordinator at the UIC Medical Center. And, for those donors that are around, the flu season presents another obstacle; in addition, "the number of accidents, organ donations, and organ transplants increase around this time, and clinics double up on transfusions, so that patients don't have to come in during the holidays," she said.
The flu season and an increase in the number of surgeries are to blame, according to Jack Jackson, a donor recruitment consultant for LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, in the Troy Messenger. As patients attempt to schedule elective surgeries during the holiday breaks in their work schedules, an increased demand for donor blood results.
Patients use between five and 10 platelets per day at the UIC Medical Center. The component of whole blood responsible for controlling bleeding, platelets, are necessary, not only for trauma victims, but also for cancer patients, transplant recipients, patients undergoing open heart surgery, anemic patients, and many other persons with blood-related disorders. Accordingly, each of these patients requires regular platelet transfusions.
Each person that donates gives approximately one pint of blood. One pint, although it may seem like a lot, is really not. "A person can loose up to 80 units of blood during one procedure," according to a phlebotomist at the UIC hospital.
Julio Cruz, a technician from the UIC hospital, outlined the process of giving blood: The first thing everyone gets when they walk in is a questionnaire to make sure that they can give blood. After a staff member determines a person's eligibility to donate, the donor is escorted to the chairs where they lay back while a nurse draws their blood. The process can take anywhere from five to 20 minutes.
The UIC hospital hosts blood drives around campus approximately twice a week. The next blood drive will be held at the College of Dentistry, 801 S Paulina St on the 4th Floor from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2, no appointment necessary.
The holidays are a time of giving and there is no better way to give then to give blood.
- Page 1 of 1
"We have the UIC hospital come to us, so that the police officers can donate blood when they have a free moment," said Craig Moran, blood drive coordinator.
The UIC police station has been hosting the blood drive for four years now. On average, around 20 people a day show up to donateblood. Most of the donors are police officers, but every once in a while a UIC student stops in.
"This [blood drive] gives the officers an opportunity to give a little around the holidays," said Moran.
During the holiday season, blood and platelet inventories drop to critically low levels, while the number of patients requiring transfusions increases.
"Donations go down around the holiday season because people aren't around and they're preoccupied," said Samantha DiMaggio, Blood Coordinator at the UIC Medical Center. And, for those donors that are around, the flu season presents another obstacle; in addition, "the number of accidents, organ donations, and organ transplants increase around this time, and clinics double up on transfusions, so that patients don't have to come in during the holidays," she said.
The flu season and an increase in the number of surgeries are to blame, according to Jack Jackson, a donor recruitment consultant for LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, in the Troy Messenger. As patients attempt to schedule elective surgeries during the holiday breaks in their work schedules, an increased demand for donor blood results.
Patients use between five and 10 platelets per day at the UIC Medical Center. The component of whole blood responsible for controlling bleeding, platelets, are necessary, not only for trauma victims, but also for cancer patients, transplant recipients, patients undergoing open heart surgery, anemic patients, and many other persons with blood-related disorders. Accordingly, each of these patients requires regular platelet transfusions.
Each person that donates gives approximately one pint of blood. One pint, although it may seem like a lot, is really not. "A person can loose up to 80 units of blood during one procedure," according to a phlebotomist at the UIC hospital.
Julio Cruz, a technician from the UIC hospital, outlined the process of giving blood: The first thing everyone gets when they walk in is a questionnaire to make sure that they can give blood. After a staff member determines a person's eligibility to donate, the donor is escorted to the chairs where they lay back while a nurse draws their blood. The process can take anywhere from five to 20 minutes.
The UIC hospital hosts blood drives around campus approximately twice a week. The next blood drive will be held at the College of Dentistry, 801 S Paulina St on the 4th Floor from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2, no appointment necessary.
The holidays are a time of giving and there is no better way to give then to give blood.
Be the first to comment on this story