The Johnson City, Tennessee campus of Ross Medical Education Center was more than happy to help save lives at their campus! The Blood Assurance bloodmobile came to facilitate a blood drive hosted by the Johnson City campus. The campus was excited to have a large group of students ready to lend a helping hand throughout the drive. It was a great experience and even better knowing that it will help people in the community in real and meaningful ways.
“We had 25 students give, and four were first time donors out of the 26 that signed up,” shared Office Assistant Holly Keplinger. “We assist Blood Assurance with these drives twice a year, because this blood stays within our community.” That is one of the most exciting things about Blood Assurance. As a nonprofit, regional blood center, they are able to keep the donations within the communities that give them.
Although they strive to keep the donations local, Blood Assurance actually serves more than 50 counties in five states. That means that they require over 500 donors daily to supply enough blood to the hospitals they work with. They have expanded to 16 locations and 13 bloodmobiles in order to respond to the need. According to their website, “the mission of Blood Assurance is to provide a safe and adequate supply of blood and blood components in a cost effective manner to every area patient in need.”
“I am so happy that our students see the benefits of donating blood and are so happy to give,” said Campus Director April Harr. “Some of our students were first time donors!” Prior to beginning their donations, students welcomed guest speaker Kelli Ward from Blood Assurance. Kelli shared with students how each donation can help to save countless lives right in their own communities, and that there is never a bad time to donate blood!