This spring, the Ross Medical Education Center campus in Davison decided to again partner with Michigan Blood for a blood drive. They set their donor goal to 16 people, but within the first day of scheduling, they exceeded their goal! They ended up 27 volunteers from the campus. In preparation for their blood drive, they invited Michigan Blood Donor Relations Specialist Brandon Shelson to come speak with the Davison students to prepare them for their donation. Brandon covered the basics of how to prepare and what the process itself is like. This was very helpful as 17 of their volunteers were first-time donors!
Michelle Lambaria-Robson, Assistant Campus Director of Education at the campus, has been a part of several blood drives. “It is essential the students understand how important it is to prepare and what happens in the event you have not prepared for the donation,” she shared. “Although the preparation is completed on an honor system, the pretesting completed by the staff on the bus is what outweighs whether someone can be a donor or not.” During Brandon’s presentation, the students had exceptional questions to ask, and if an answer was not available the student was given a card with a phone number that linked them directly to the Donor Services.
Students were able to fill out paperwork ahead of time so the information could be uploaded by Michigan Blood staff before the event. This cut down on logistical necessities on the day of the event and provided time for more students to participate. Michelle Lambaria-Robson was very appreciative of Michigan Blood’s presentation. She shared that in the past there have been students that are unable to participate because they hadn’t prepared. “This year,” she said, “because of Brandon’s presentation, we had full success.”
Brandon Shelson from Michigan Blood was very pleased with the outcome of the blood drive. The campus broke their donor record with 20 successful donors of their 27 voluneers, even after the drive had to get delayed and rescheduled. “Way to go on an awesome blood drive!” Brandon said. “Keep up the good work.” The campus is so thankful that so many members of the Ross community came out to support this event and help save local lives!
If you are interested in learning more about Michigan Blood, visit their Facebook page or their website at www.miblood.org.