The latest Red Cross blood drive on campus took place on Oct. 31 at Johnson Hall from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
This collection is another one of the many blood drives held on campus and organized with the school and the local American Red Cross chapter.
High schools and campuses like Oswego State are the best places to conduct blood drives because of the sheer number of people in one centralized location that are willing and able to donate to the blood supply, according to Rob Wasiel, an account manager for the local American Red Cross Blood Services located in Liverpool, New York.
“They are some of the best places to have blood drives,” Wasiel said. “As you know at SUNY Oswego, there are about 6,000 to 7,000 students, and we do probably 15 to 16 blood drives a year on campus, which is tremendous.”
The school’s Red Cross Club was recently re-established and is looking to boost numbers through promotion of events like this one. Akeile Barrett, the president of Oswego State’s Red Cross Club, organized the event and is a resident assistant in Johnson Hall. Barrett coordinated the event with Wasiel to get it off the ground and functioning for Tuesday.
Barrett contacted Wasiel and said the procedures to get the event fully organized was rather easy.
“[Wasiel] came. I sat with him,” Barrett said. “We talked about the room, how the scheduling works. It was really smooth, and he kind of made it really easy for me.”
Barrett had plenty of student help putting on the blood drive as well. Residents in Johnson Hall are required to volunteer for 20 hours per semester if they wish to live in that specific residence hall.
“I feel like we would get a high attendance. I put all my effort into this building. So, everyone in this building had the opportunity to help,” Barret said.
Barrett’s responsibilities with Residence Life and Housing and being the head of the Red Cross Club was one reason he was inclined to put on this event.
“As one of our requirements, we have to put on a program for our building to have community service [hours],” Barrett said. “I combined both my RA abilities and my president of SUNY Oswego Red Cross [abilities] to facilitate this blood drive.”
Barrett is an aspiring physician’s assistant, is a clinical volunteer and emergency for Oswego Hospital and emergency medical scribe at ScriberAmerica and sees the importance of donating blood from seeing patients in need firsthand.
“Being in the emergency room, you work with a lot of leukemia patients, people that are in motor vehicle accidents that really require these blood transfusions immediately,” Barrett said.
Wasiel says the need for donations are constant, and institutions like Oswego State are one of the main contributors to helping to keep the blood supply at a safe level.
“SUNY Oswego really carries its weight in terms of the amount of blood we collect at the college in comparison to other schools,” Wasiel said. “SUNY Oswego has a great track record of collections in terms of coordination of their population.”
High schools and colleges make up roughly 25 percent of the blood supply, according to Wasiel. Every day, new patients need blood transfusions, and this is why colleges like Oswego State are so crucial to the local American Red Cross chapter with its help setting up mobile collection sites.
“About 60 percent of us can donate; The other 40 percent can’t for whatever reason. Only about five or six actually do come in and donate,” said Jeremiah Brutcher, a collection specialist for the local American Red Cross chapter. “So, we are constantly behind the ball when it comes to having enough to supply the nation.”
Photo: Jerrold Aryeequaye
