By Jake Thomas
Starting at 9 a.m. and ending at 2 p.m on Oct. 29 the Cameron Collegian hosted a blood drive with Our Blood Institute (OBI), at the Shepler Ballroom. There were a total of 27 donors at the event. The number marks a new record for Cameron-related OBI events this year, surpassing the previous goal of 25 donors.
A good majority of the donors were people who scheduled ahead of time; however, those who did not schedule were still welcome to participate. Getting prepped for donations is a relatively easy process as well. All that’s needed is a photo ID, a brief medical background check and a small blood sample to ensure you are ready to donate.
Donors were given the option to choose between three types of donations, being whole blood, platelets and plasma. Depending on what you chose, the entire process can take less than 10 minutes, or up to an hour.
Before that however, OBI encourages participants to relax and eat some snacks provided at the
event, in order to increase red blood cells in the body, as well as help the contributors bodies adapt to their blood being taken. OBI provided a free T-shirt to everyone involved, as well as a ticket to the Trail of Fears event in Lawton.
Several students and Cameron staff members were on site and expressed their own experiences with the event.
Tashumvi Taylor, a building engineer, said “It benefits the university as well as the community.” Returning donor and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu player Kyle Cabellero reiterated the importance of giving blood and how it directly relates to him. “I just feel like it’s good to donate,” he said. “My dad’s a firefighter, so he uses stuff like this all the time, and I feel like it’s very needed.”
Journalism and Media Production student Laney Perrine mentioned how she only knew about the event due to the Collegian staff advertising, “When I was at the filming show at the Vaska, there were these people at a stand advertising the blood drive,” she said. “And at first I was nervous, but now here I am.”
OBI has been doing drives like this for a while now, reaching beyond college campuses like Cameron as well. Since it has been over 50 years since they were founded, it’s a given they have the blood drive process down to a science.
OBI Senior Supervisor Tina Pena, spoke on site about the great turnout, and how despite a few hiccups the blood drive was a success. “We went two over for our goal. Our goal was 25 and we had 27,” she said. “So yes, considering where we were and where we’re going to be, I would say it’s been going really well for us.”
Donating blood is a simple process that can save more people than you think. A single donor can save up to three people, which especially adds up over time.
“We appreciate everybody that came out to donate today and save a life,” Pena said.
If you are interested, OBI will be having another blood drive during the spring semester, but will be set up at other locations over the winter as well. For their future schedule, and for more information, contact Our Blood Institute at obi.org or call 877-340-8777.