Cleveland State University’s Health and Wellness Services sponsored a blood drive facilitated by the American Red Cross Oct. 16 and 17, collecting 79 donors over the two days. Students filtered in and out working around class schedules and other commitments to make their donations, accounting for 58 pints of blood.
Michael Bennett, a medic from Colorado who worked at the drive, explained that most people don’t want to donate unless they get something for free. It’s human nature, he said, that people aren’t motivated unless they receive a reward.
Donors received juice boxes and individual bags of chips from the American Red Cross while the university offered a Chipotle gift card or a coupon for half off of admissions at Cedar Point for up to four people.
Between 25-40 student donors are the usual outcome at these blood drives, Bennett said, but the number of donations and volunteers vary.
“At certain times of the year, example being after 9/11, people were coming in by the boatload,” Bennett said. “There’s a genuine sense of caring when something like that happens -- like the Columbine shootings or school shootings. Major catastrophes, manmade or natural, bring people out of the woodwork.”
The American Red Cross travels all over northern Ohio to collect blood, Bennett said. “Red Cross, as a whole, (needs) to collect approximately 1,000 pints a day throughout northern Ohio to keep our hospitals supplied,” he explained.
Bennett works around 8-10 hours a day at a minimum collecting blood. The biggest issue the American Red Cross has for these drives is miscommunication about location. Location can be a conflict here at the university with scheduling the drive around classes.
The outcome of the blood drive depends on the promotion by the university. Students come to donate by appointment or as walk-ins.
“The biggest thing is what it says on that box,” Bennet said. “The need is constant. The gratification is instant.”