NEWS

All eligible donors urged to give at UNC blood drive Tuesday

CHAPEL HILL – Where are you, the other 95 percent of eligible blood donors?

Officials connected with the blood supply estimate that only about 5 percent of eligible donors nationwide actually give–sometimes, 10 percent.

If the other 95 percent are ever going to learn to be heroes, now’s the time. Blood bank supplies are so dangerously low that the American Red Cross and other blood banking groups have issued a national plea for donations.

And on Tuesday (July 22), the Orange County Chapter of the American Red Cross will partner with the staff and faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 15^th Annual Carolina Blood Drive, the largest one-day drive on the East Coast.

The public as well as university employees are invited to the drive, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Dean E. Smith Center. Parking will be free for participants while they donate in unreserved spaces of the Manning, Smith and Bowles lots, all zoned S11. Golf carts will shuttle them to and from the center. Each donor will get a free T-shirt, a coupon for a free Chick-Fil-A sandwich and a choice of bagels, pizza, health food or other free goodies donated by 40 local vendors.

Doctors, Red Cross staffers and drive organizers noted other reasons to give, plus tips on how to make donating easier on mind and body.

Dr. Mark Brecher, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine in the UNC School of Medicine, works to ensure that UNC Hospitals always have enough blood banked. That means working with a variety of suppliers, including the Red Cross and the hospital’s own collections. An expert on supply and safety issues, Brecher was chosen last year to chair the Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The gold standard for a safe amount to have on hand is a three-day supply for some blood banks and six day’s worth for others, Brecher said. "But many blood centers are now close to a day-and-a-half supply. Unfortunately, during the summers, we tend to run low, because people are on vacation." Chapel Hill faces a particular challenge, he said, because many regular donors are students who aren’t here in the summer.

"People have to stop and think, ‘What if I were the recipient tomorrow? Or a friend or a relative?’ " Brecher said. "If they put it in that perspective, it may help them overcome their fear of the needle. And after they’ve donated once or twice, people do tend to overcome their fear. I would encourage people to try it a few times and see how it goes."

It only takes one deep breath for one stick–visualize the beach, or wildflowers--10 minutes of mild discomfort and then taking things a little easy for a while. That, in exchange for saving the life of an innocent accident victim, or someone having an organ removed or transplanted. Other recipients of blood or blood products – platelets and plasma -- may be burn victims, cancer patients, premature babies or many other types of ill or injured patients.

After donating, you get to wear a brightly colored bandage to advertise your good deed. (Ask for Carolina Blue, or hot pink, even. Then parade around in short sleeves.)

"I was deathly scared of needles when I gave the first time," said Katrina Coble, business manager in UNC’s computer science department and recruitment chair for the Carolina Blood Drive, who has helped with UNC drives since 1992. "If you can think about someone you’ve known who needed blood, that’s half the battle right there. It’s mind over matter."

Casey Copp of the Orange County Chapter of the American Red Cross shared steps to an easier ride: "I recommend eating a very good meal and drinking lots of water prior to the donation. Eat a diet rich in iron, found in raisins, spinach, leafy vegetables and beef, and avoid caffeine the day before the donation." Or take iron supplements and at least cut down on caffeine," she said.

Even so, some folks truly cannot donate. Do not attend if you have been ill recently or are under a doctor’s care for an acute illness. Call the Red Cross at 1-800-228-1496, extension 1451, if you are uncertain about a condition that you have – don’t just use it as an excuse. Even diabetics can give if their blood sugars are normal at the time and their lab reports good.

Many questions are answered, and additional information is provided, on Carolina’s Web site at www.sph.unc.edu/blood and the Orange County Red Cross site, www.informatics.org/redcross/. Or call 96-BLOOD (962-5663) or 942-4862, Extension 0. Donors may make appointments to give during the

drive on the Carolina Web site or by calling 962-4862. Walk-ins are welcome but might be there longer, an hour and a half or more.

Think you don’t have the time? For Carolina employees, the approximate hour-plus counts as work time. Most of that is for screening, not giving, and the questions asked will convince anyone that the nation’s blood supply is safe. Between stations, tend the job with papers and a laptop if you must, ormake new friends and see old ones from across campus.

Can’t go on Tuesday? No excuse. UNC Hospitals will collect Monday (July 21), from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in its lab conference room, 1127, and Wednesday (July 23) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. Call 544-9927 for information.

No matter where you donate, it will help. With the present shortage, said Brecher, there is no chance that some of the blood will expire before use and have to be discarded, as was the case after a rush of post-9/11 giving. Nor can donors catch any dread diseases, he said. Items for each donor are used only once, and all are sterile.

More than 200 UNC faculty and staff members volunteer each year to pull off the drive. This year there’s a waiting list of people who want to volunteer. "It speaks volumes for people at the university that they’re coming out to do this," Coble said. "It’s a reunion of sorts, and a way for the community of UNC to come together for a day to fulfill part of our mission of transforming lives. What better way to transform lives than with something like this?"

Brecher agreed: "There are few things in life that you can do to really help people. This is one of them."

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Contacts: Katrina Coble, 962-1801, coble@cs.unc.edu, Casey Copp, 942-4862, ext. 226, occhapnc@intrex.net
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, 962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu