Blood drive turnout low

Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity and the Johns Hopkins University hosted a blood drive from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in conjunction with the American Red Cross Wednesday and Thursday in the Glass Pavilion of Levering Hall. Scheduled every couple of months or approximately every 56 days, both students and members of the community can donate by scheduling appointments or by walking-in.

"We collect about 225 units of blood each day, and each unit [or pint] of blood saves three to four people's lives," American Red Cross Account Representative Katie Bentley said. "

The American Red Cross funds and supplies all the necessary equipment and staff required for the drive and then sends the blood out to hospitals that need them in the greater Chesapeake and Potomac [Maryland, D.C. and Northern Virginia] region."

Donating blood is a multi-step process that takes around one to two hours. Potential donors first sign in at the registration desk where they are first screened for physical eligibility.

After reading over the information and filling out the registration form, they are interviewed and have a mini-physical at the health history booths, where they interact one-on-one with an American staff member and ask any questions they might have.

Then, they are led to the donor room where they donate a pint of blood, a procedure that lasts seven to 10 minutes. Finally, the donors are led to a refreshment table in order to replenish their body with food, drink and rest.

"Almost anyone can donate, so it should be everyone's duty," freshmen blood donor Mark Belinsky said. "There's such a huge blood shortage, and there shouldn't be, so I try to donate as much as I can. You can see that especially after Sept. 11 because so many people needed blood, and it wasn't there."

Once the blood is collected and processed, it is stored inside tanks filled with ice and is ready to be transported to a lab.

"Since blood lasts about only 42 days, blood must reach a lab within eight hours," American Cross staff member Sam Thomas said. "We had three to four bloodmobiles every four hours to transport the blood [to the lab]."

Once taken to the lab, the blood is tested and broken down to its three major components- plasma, platelets and red blood cells. To ensure the blood is healthy and to keep blood deferment levels to a minimum, health care professionals working at the blood drives asked for certain requirements at the registration desks.

"We require that the donors are at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds, have had no tattoos in the last year and have not taken any antibiotics in the last 48 hours," Bentley said. "Most importantly, they have to be in general good health."

In addition to these basic requirements, the Red Cross tightened restrictions on European travel, which decreased the amount of potential donors, according to Communications Program Coordinator Caterina Provost-Smith. The restrictions had been suggested by the Food and Drug Administration in order to prevent "mad cow" disease (Creutzfeldt-Jakob) from entering the United States. According to the new requirement, anyone who had spent a cumulative total of three months in the United Kingdom or six months in combination of any European country since 1980, is momentarily ineligible to donate.

"The travel requirement is the reason why donor numbers are down and it also disqualifies me since I lived in Germany," sophomore Alpha Phi Omega brother Hyung Do Kim said. "The only thing I can do to help is to give out cookies to the donors."

However, the travel restrictions may not be the only reason for the decrease in the number of donors.

"The screening process is much faster now, but was very slow in September's blood drive and caused some people to wait two to three hours in order to donate," Provost-Smith said. "Also, although there were a many number of appointments, the number of walk-in donations has decreased. We'll try adding new forms of recruitment, such as promoting the drive within other student groups to try to reach more potential donors since we need to make up for the European travel restrictions.

The Office of Faculty, Staff and Retiree Programs had publicized the event on campus for the past two months by means of fliers, posters, letters and e-mails. In response to the publicity, new students and members of the community were impacted and came to donate.

"I went to MegaBYTES, and there was a table set up by the Red Cross," freshmen donor Linda Trinh said. "I wanted to donate blood last time, but couldn't, so I came in today [for the] first time. It didn't hurt as much as I thought."

Other students expressed different reasons for donating blood.

"I gave blood today because I can and in the future, I won't be able to. As a gay man, there are restrictions on who can give blood, so while I have the chance, I'll do my part," senior donor Andrew Albin said. "I had no concept of how much time it would take because I expected it to be in and out."

Nevertheless, the members of Alpha Phi Omega, who have sponsored the event for the past two years, expressed satisfaction with the blood drive and were happy with the student turnout despite the restrictions.

"It's one of my favorite events because it's related to saving lives," Kim commented. "Since I was on the Red Cross in Korea, this is a good way to continue what I was doing."

Junior Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity member Leon Chao agreed.

"I've donated blood before, and I know how nervous people can be, so I try to help them relax and be less stressed," Chao said. "I enjoy the experience immensely because instead of being on the receiving end, I'm on the giving end.