On Halloween, the American Red Cross organization drew the blood of 40 Newman community members, exceeding the Red Cross’ goal of 34.
Jeffery Vaughn, director of the radiology technology program, has been helping organize American Red Cross blood drives for three years at Newman. There is a high need for blood in the community so Newman hosts two blood drives each year. The fall event is hosted by the nursing department and the spring event is hosted by Campus Activities Board and Campus Ministry.
“We put it (the blood drive) on because it’s good for the community but also for the students because we make them get service hours every semester,” said Vaughn.
Students are required to have a certain amount of volunteer hours, so they helped run the check-in table, information table and snack table at the drive.
The Red Cross provides all the equipment, the phlebotomists and does the majority of setup. The phlebotomists are based in Wichita and travel all over Kansas and northern Oklahoma.
Donors can only donate whole blood every 56 days and power red (where only red blood cells are donated) every 112 days.
The Blood Donor app for smartphones was highly recommended by the Red Cross workers and makes donating quick and easy. The app saves individual health information, which provides a quicker check-in process. It also tracks an individual’s blood donations, finds nearby blood drives and more.
A date has not yet been set for the spring blood drive. Stay tuned for more information.
