Bloody great!

Students lined the hallway leading out of the HUB Multi-purpose room, waiting for their chance to save someone’s life. Donating blood seems a small sacrifice, but can make a big difference. After getting stuck in line for about two hours, Sue Karen, a phlebotomist – the medical world’s equivalent of a vampire – stood above me, needle in hand. She glanced at my file quickly and asked me to verify a few facts, then looked for a good vein in my arm. “Wow, we’ve got plenty of options with you,” she said, looking at my healthy veins, “but I hate making choices.” She found her target, though, and marked it with several dots. I donated blood for the first time almost two and a half years ago, and I was as nervous then as some of the first-timers this semester. They looked around anxiously, and some even paled at the sight of the bags where blood is stored. The Red Cross tried out a new procedure this semester, which unfortunately I didn’t qualify for. It sounded interesting, as they claimed it was healthier for both the recipient and the donor. My A-positive blood type didn’t appeal to the phlebotomists that day, though – they were looking for rarer types, like B-negative. Those lucky guinea pigs got to skip the line. Every time I see a first-time donor, though, inwardly I praise their courage. Some don’t donate because they are afraid of blood, or needles, or especially getting stuck by needles and bleeding, which of course is understandable. “It’s yucky,” one of my friends said. Sue has been a donor for about 30 years, and has been with the Red Cross for five. I was surprised to learn that it was a full-time job – somehow, I’d always imagined that Red Cross work would be on a volunteer basis. Sue said there were many volunteers wherever they went, but there was a paid staff as well. She went with the Red Cross to many other schools in New Hampshire, including UNH, Keene, and The University of Southern New Hampshire. She goes to businesses like BAE and Liberty Mutual for blood donations as well. People donate for a variety of reasons. I went to donate because I like to do what I can to help out. Laurel Briere, a junior, says that she donated “for all the guys who can’t give blood because they are homosexual.” ALSO sponsored a petition, which Laurel signed, to get people to donate in their stead since under current regulations, homosexual and bisexual men are not allowed to donate. Patrick O’Leary, a sophomore known better simply as Bob, says he likes to donate because he enjoys bleeding. That probably makes him an ideal candidate. Anyone interested in donating blood can give it a shot. Unfortunately, the selection process is very strict – I saw four people today get denied because they didn’t have enough iron in their blood. In all honesty, the process is fairly painless – it hurts less than the average booster shots… or all those annoying inoculations students have to get in elementary and high school. For the faint of heart, who wavers at the sight of blood, it’s not hard to look away – I think that’s why ceilings are made anyway – to stare at. Sue Karen says that the Red Cross probably doesn’t prepare people well enough before they go in to give blood, though. “People should drink four to six glasses of water more than they usually do in a given day before going in to give blood,” she says. It helps the blood pump out faster, and helps to relieve the dizziness or exhaustion many experience after donating. Heroes are found everywhere in daily life: in uniform, in classrooms, in spandex, and sometimes even among the student body.