Students and community members have donated blood to Warrensburg-Latham High School. Visit herald-review.com to see a video about January as National Blood Donor Awareness Month.
Senior Nevaeh Gould donates blood with help from ImpactLife’s John Buss at Warrensburg-Latham High School. Visit herald-review.com to see a video about January as National Blood Donor Awareness Month.
CLAY JACKSON, HERALD & REVIEW
DECATUR – Mekayla Gossard (17) donated blood for the first time during a recent blood drive at her school.
“My girlfriend said she did,” said the Warrensburg-Latham High School student. “So I said ‘why not’.”
January is National Blood Donor Awareness Month. However, blood donation centers encourage new donors throughout the year, as well as regular donors.
“We’re trying to let people know it’s an easy procedure,” said Sara Palacio, donor relations advisor for ImpactLife. “It’s safe and it takes 45 minutes to an hour.”
According to Palacio, one donation can save three lives. “It’s a great way to help your community,” she said. “It’s the blood on the boards that saves lives.”
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Mekayla admits she would have donated before, but as a school athlete, she didn’t get permission from her coaches. Volleyball, soccer and the dance team also took up a lot of her time.
“We’ve been told we can’t,” she said.
Donors may become lightheaded after donating blood. That’s why coaches and health professionals advise against donating blood on training days. “We ask the donors not to exercise after they have donated,” Palacio said.
Mekayla and her classmates found a positive side to donating blood and helped save lives. Donating blood can take up to an hour; so the students planned their donation during class. “That’s the good part,” she said.
The process doesn’t hurt. “It’s just a little bit,” Mekayla said.
Senior Nevaeh Gould donates blood at Warrensburg-Latham High School. The Warrensburg-Latham High School National Honor Society sponsored the event, which comes at a time when blood supplies are low.
CLAY JACKSON, HERALD & REVIEW
The Warrensburg-Latham High School National Honor Society sponsored the most recent blood collection. Stephanie Thien is the sponsor of the organization. “We do that about five times a year,” she says.
Getting the students to donate is not difficult. Along with a few incentives, such as gift cards and T-shirts, the kids donate because their friends encourage them.
“There’s probably a bit of peer pressure,” Thien said. “But for the most part we have a really good group of kids. They want to help other people in need.”
ImpactLife is a non-profit organization that provides blood supply to 126 hospitals in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin. Local hospitals include those in Decatur, Mattoon, Bloomington, Lincoln, Taylorville, Pana, Shelbyville, Monticello, Springfield, Champaign, and Effingham.
“If they send an email saying they have a two-day supply, that’s for every hospital they support locally,” said Alyssa Petrowsky, medical laboratory scientist for HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital.
ImpactLife has made the process easier, health care providers have said.
“There’s a real stone building where people can make an appointment and go,” Petrowski said. “You don’t have to hunt a blood mobile.”
Petrovsky wants people of any blood type to donate. “There are other blood supply deficiencies, but O positive is in a critical condition,” she said.
According to Julie Floyd, blood bank specialist at Decatur Memorial Hospital, DMH has experienced the same dwindling blood supply. “The O-positive and the O-negatives are the shortest (feed),” she said. “You use that when you’re traumatized.”
According to healthcare professionals, COVID has had an impact on the number of donations. “People who would normally donate either don’t want to donate because they don’t want to be around other people, or they don’t donate because they are sick,” Floyd said.
Students and community members have donated blood to Warrensburg-Latham High School.
CLAY JACKSON, HERALD & REVIEW
Another factor is the number of chances. Companies often organized blood collections for their employees. As more employees work from home, the locations for donations have changed. The holidays also affect blood donations. Donors visit families and schools are not in session. “Traditionally, the holidays, especially Christmas and New Years, have seen a real drop in donations,” Palacio said. “People are busy with family activities and travel. They don’t have time to donate blood.”
The blood centers and donation sites implement precautions during donations, including social distancing, following appointment schedules and masks.
“But this year, with the COVID spikes, that’s an additional element that really reduces the number of donors we’re seeing coming in,” Palacio said.
For hospital staff, every day can be a different challenge. Floyd admits she has to be careful when ordering blood. “I’m not ready to get orders yet,” she said. “But it may take a little longer.”
Donors can donate blood every eight weeks. “But it’s hard to get people to because they’re busy,” Floyd said of the holidays.
The blood products remain in the community. Different parts of the blood are used for different procedures. Red blood cells, platelets and plasma are given to patients.
The vital product can only be obtained through human donations. “We need to have people’s compassion to take care of other people,” Petrowski said. “It cannot be man-made, outside the body.”
Raise your arm: It’s National Blood Donor Month
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Red Cross phlebotomist Josh Ellsworthy finds a vein in the arm of Bloomington donor Justin Cunliffe during an American Red Cross blood drive at Grossinger Motors Arena on Dec. 20, 2019. The Red Cross and the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center have protocols in place to collect plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 to reduce the symptoms of those hospitalized with the virus.
DAVID PROEBER, PANTAGRAPH FILE PHOTO
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Steve Stoewer, American Red Cross Serving Central Illinois Director of Blood Services, and Lyn Hruska, Red Cross Regional CEO for Central and Southern Illinois, stand in the new donor room at the American Red Cross Bloomington Blood Donation Center in July, 1 Westport Court, in July 2018.
DAVID PROEBER, PANTAGRAPH FILE
little hero
Antonio Herrera, left, is escorted to refreshment by Sophia Wolden and Connor Bowen, sixth-graders from St. Mary’s School, both 11, after donating blood during a Pint-Size Hero Blood Drive on Thursday, April 27, 2019 at the school. Some 137 donors gave blood during the event to benefit the Red Cross.
DAVID PROEBER, PANTAGRAPH FILE
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Communities across the US have a real need for donors so that a safe and ample blood supply can be provided where and when it is needed.
Dreamstime, TNS
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Some blood donors in the Challenge on 74 Blood Drive received T-shirts during the January 2017 event at Illinois State University’s Bowling & Billiards Center.
STEVE SMEDLEY, PANTAGRAPH FILE
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Students wait their turn to escort blood donors to refreshment tables during the Red Cross blood drive on Thursday, April 28, 2016 at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Bloomington.
DAVID PROEBER, PANTAGRAPH FILE
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Donors began filling St. Mary’s Catholic School gymnasium at the start of a Red Cross blood drive on Thursday, April 28, 2016 in Bloomington. It is the largest one-day ride in McLean County so far in 2016.
DAVID PROEBER, PANTAGRAPH FILE
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The American Red Cross Badges for Life blood donation campaign encourages eligible blood donors to join local law enforcement and fire departments to ensure blood products are available to patients in need. Above, retired firefighter Ken Sylvester of Normal gave blood at Bloomington Fire Department Station 2 in 2017 with the help of Peoria phlebotomist Marcquinne Johnson.
LORI ANN COOK-NEISLER, PANTAGRAPH FILE
Holiday blood drive
Longtime donor Brenda Yoder of Danvers raises her arm after donating blood with the help of Red Cross nurse Dawn Michel of Bradford during the Pantagraph-sponsored holiday blood drive at the US Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington in December 2014.
LORI ANN COOK-NEISLER, PANTAGRAPH FILE
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Red Cross team leader Scott Evans packs donated blood into ice collected during a blood drive on Friday, December 20, 2019 at the Grossinger Motors Arena. The blood will be stored until needed in Peoria. The blood collection was sponsored by The Pantagraph.
DAVID PROEBER, PANTAGRAPH FILE
This is the season of giving
Angela Click of Bloomington looks away as Red Cross phlebotomist Kenneth Downey prepares to draw blood for her donation on Friday, December 22, 2017 at the Grossinger Motors Arena. Sponsors of the ride included The Pantagraph, Grossinger Motors, Monicals Pizza, Moe’s Southwest Grill, OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, Adkisson, Wilber Group, Leadership McLean County and The Vein Specialists.
DAVID PROEBER, PANTAGRAPH FILE
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OSF health coach Samantha Taylor of Bloomington gives blood with help from phlebotomist Dawn Michel of Bradford during an American Red Cross blood drive at OSF Medical Group-College Avenue, 1701 E. College Ave., Bloomington, on Dec. 13, 2015.
STEVE SMEDLEY, PANTAGRAPH FILE
Holiday blood drive
Greg Smith of Bloomington gives a double red blood donation, which allows the safe donation of two units of red blood cells in one donation. The machine returns plasma and platelets extracted during the administration process. Red Cross nurse Adrienne Erwin of Earlville explains the process to Smith during the drive on December 17, 2014.
LORI ANN COOK-NEISLER, PANTAGRAPH FILE
Contact Donnette Beckett at (217) 421-6983. Follow her on Twitter: @donnettebHR
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