News Release

Citizens of town, gown can save lives
through blood drive Tuesday at UNC

By L.J. TOLER
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL — What if, someday, you are seriously injured in a car crash, and doctors give you 30 units of blood to save your life?

When you recover, will you feel better if you have or have not ever donated blood?

Faculty, staff and students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, plus residents of surrounding communities, will have an opportunity to donate at the 17^th annual Carolina Blood Drive coming up on Tuesday (June 7).

The largest one-day drive on the East Coast will be from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. in UNC’s Dean E. Smith Center. The drive partners UNC with the American Red Cross’ Carolinas Blood Services Region, whose experienced technicians – they do this somewhere, all day long, nearly every day – will collect the blood.

Donors must be at least 17, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good health. Some health conditions preclude donation; others do not. For details and other information, visit www.sph.unc.edu/blood,  call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or, on campus, see a UNC department recruiter.

To donate or volunteer to help at the drive, make an appointment online at the same Web site, call 96-BLOOD (962-5663) or see a recruiter. Walk-ins won’t be turned away, but finishing the process will take them longer. Appointments are strongly suggested.

Donors should bring Red Cross Donor Cards or photo I.D.s to the drive.

Recruiters encourage first-time donors by asking something like this: Can you endure one small pinch, 10 minutes of mild discomfort and, sometimes, a weak feeling the rest of the day in order to save someone’s life? If so, help to reverse a disturbing statistic: While five percent of the population gives blood, 97 percent will need blood sometime in their lives.

The Carolinas Region supplies blood to approximately 103 hospitals and needs 1,500 donors daily to meet patients’ needs. Some of the situations requiring blood transfusions, the Red Cross reports, are coronary bypass surgery (one to five units); other open-heart surgeries, auto accidents or gunshots (up to 50); a fractured hip or joint replacement (two to 20); and brain surgery (four to 20).

Each donor gives what the Red Cross calls a unit – a little less than a pint. The body replenishes the fluid in 24 hours and the red blood cells in four to six weeks.

"Most donors feel fine by the next day," said UNC’s Katrina Coble, chair of the eight-member Carolina Blood Drive Committee. "Frequently they express the overall wonderful feeling of having possibly saved someone else’s life through their donation."

Donating blood certainly hasn’t slowed Dr. Willis Brooks, a UNC associate professor of history. He has donated regularly since December 1956, when he was an undergraduate at Dartmouth College. "I gave while I was in the Army," he said. "I have given in four countries and eight states." His total of 128 units so far will climb to 129 on Tuesday. He advises donors: "Look at the ceiling, not the needle."

For an easier time, drink plenty of water and eat a good meal just before heading to the Smith Center, Coble said. From the day before until the donation, eat a diet rich in iron or take iron supplements; avoid or limit caffeine intake, which can block iron absorption. Vitamin C, found in fruits and some vegetables, promotes it. Taking extra calcium can’t hurt, either, she said.

Afterward, sit down and enjoy some of the bagels, croissants, juices, sausage biscuits, barbecue sandwiches, pizza, home-baked cookies, sweet tea, and much more that nearly 40 local businesses are donating to the drive.

Expect to be at the Smith Center for an hour to an hour and a half. The donation takes only 10-15 minutes; most of the time is spent before that, as the Red Cross screens donors to ensure safety of the blood supply.

They also check everyone’s temperature, blood pressure, pulse and blood hemoglobin to make sure each donor is healthy enough to give on that particular day. Between screening stages, donors work, read or visit with friends from across campus. For UNC employees, blood drive time is work time with permission from a supervisor.

Parking will be free in lots near the center, and golf carts will shuttle donors requesting assistance from the center back to their cars. Chapel Hill Transit’s free buses will serve the drive on the N, RU, S and U routes. For more information, visit the UNC blood drive Web site or www.ci.chapel-hill.nc.us/transit/routes.

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Note: To develop a feature on Dr. Willis Brooks, contact him at (919) 967-1446 or ewbrooks@email.unc.edu

UNC contact: Katrina Coble, (919) 962-1801, coble@cs.unc.edu

Red Cross contact: Jeff Davis, (919) 419-1849, ext. 380, davisje@usa.redcross.org

UNC News Services contacts: Print, L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589; broadcast, Karen Moon, (919) 962-8595