This month, the Ross Medical Education Center Ann Arbor, Michigan campus welcomed Caitlin Regan from Michigan Blood’s Be The Match registry. Caitlin was welcomed by Ross staff, faculty, and students who were brought to tears by a video depicting the story of a match success. Baby Clara received a donation from a young man that saved her life. The video punctuated the importance of the registry as it strives to serve patients with leukemia, sickle cell anemia, and other blood cancers.
According to Caitlin, every three minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer. Students were shocked at the number and were eager to help. Carley Baker, a student from the Medical Insurance Billing and Office Administration program, said “I can’t believe all we have to do is swab our cheek!” Students in the afternoon Medical Assistant class, April Kimble, Melissa Woodside and Chelsea Carchio, were surprised they just had to drop the swabs in an envelope. Caitlin explained there is currently a need for more racially diverse potential donors as over 70% of the donors on the registry are caucasian.
Caitlin travels all over the state of Michigan to educate potential donors between the ages of 18-44 about the importance of joining the registry. Ross Medical is an important partner of Be The Match and Caitlin travels to each Michigan location twice a year to educate Ross students. She informs them of the importance of the registry and how they can help patients in need. Caitlin explained the process which is based on HLA tissue type rather than blood type. If a person is a potential match, they go through extensive testing to ensure they are a healthy candidate. All expenses for the donor are paid by the organization and donors may bring a support person with them.
Since the Be The Match partnership with Ross began in 2013, over 1,000 Ross Medical students have registered! Because of their ongoing commitment to the registry and helping to save lives, Ross Medical actually received the Community Advocacy Award at the organization’s golf outing last year for their dedicated partnership. Ann Arbor Ross students, staff, and instructors are proud to join others in the Ross family as they become part of the registry and help those with blood cancers.