As an institution that prides itself on training the next generation of healthcare professionals, the staff at Ross Medical Education Center in Lansing, Michigan always looks forward to community service opportunities that have a healthcare focus. A great opportunity that we at Ross strive to provide for our students and staff is the chance to participate in blood drives on campus. These drives are extremely important as they are one of the only ways that communities and hospitals get the life-saving blood they need for their patients. Recently, the Lansing campus hosted a blood drive for which they partnered with Michigan Blood.
According to their website, Michigan Blood was founded in 1955 with the goal of providing blood to those in need within the state of Michigan. Since blood collection and distribution is their only focus, it is also their top priority. Now, they provide blood for over 60 different Michigan hospitals through an average of 125,000 donations from nine permanent donation sites and over 3,600 mobile drives throughout the state annually.
This is the second year in a row that Ross in Lansing has had the opportunity to team up with Michigan Blood for a drive. Last year’s drive was a great success and the campus was very excited to do another drive! The goal for this year’s drive was to have 15 people sign up as donors. The campus ended up exceeding their goal by three with a total of 18 donors signed up! It may not sound like a lot, but each person donates one pint of blood which in turn can be used to save up to three people. That means that a drive with 18 donors can save a potential 54 lives in their community and state!
The Ross staff was very relieved to find out how simple the process is to host a drive. All they had to do was register on the Michigan Blood website and then they took care of the rest! They used the mobile blood bus at the campus. Once a donor entered the bus, they were able to complete their paperwork and get their vital signs taken. Then, they could just sit back, relax, and let Michigan Blood phlebotomists do the rest! After donating, each donor was offered juice and cookies to snack on while they waited. Then, once the Michigan Blood staff was satisfied that they were feeling well, they were discharged.
The donors were very excited with how simple it all was. Veronica Gonzales, Lansing’s Office Assistant, was very pleased and commented on what a wonderful experience it all was. Shannon Auvenshire, a student in the morning Medical Assistant program, was surprised about the simple and straightforward process. After donating, she exclaimed, “I never knew it was that easy!” Ross in Lansing was so honored that Michigan Blood was willing to team up with them again, and they are already looking forward to the next drive!
To learn more about Michigan Blood, visit their Facebook page or their website at www.miblood.org.