Holiday Carolina Blood Drive scheduled for Nov. 19

As a healthy woman in her early 30s, Amanda Brumfield would never have guessed that she would need a blood transfusion to save her life.

But after giving birth to her daughter last November, Brumfield started to have severe complications at home and returned to the hospital where she underwent surgery and received two units of blood.

“It scares me to think what would have happened if I hadn’t had a blood transfusion to help me,” said Brumfield, a professional development and career coach in the Honors Carolina program. “Especially at that point — I was a new mom, my kid was 3 weeks old. It scares me to think about what could have happened. I’m just so thankful that I had a transfusion there to help me and help everything work out.”

Having been on the receiving end of the life-saving resource, Brumfield is now encouraging more people to donate, especially this year as hospitalizations have increased due to COVID-19.

“You never know where you or someone you love will be in that situation,” she said. “And I’m so glad that other people stepped up to help me when I needed it.”

The Carolina community can help save more lives by participating in the 22nd annual Holiday Carolina Blood Drive from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 19 in Fetzer Hall.

Sponsored by the Employee Forum, the blood drive supports the Red Cross in its life-saving mission to make blood available for those in need. UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty and community members who give will ensure hospital patients can continue to receive treatment during the holidays when donations often decline. Since 1989, Carolina blood drives have yielded more than 33,000 units of blood.

Walk-ins will be accepted the day of the drive, but appointments are encouraged. To make an appointment, call 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767), download the Red Cross Blood Donor App or visit redcrossblood.org and use sponsor code “UNC.”

The Red Cross has implemented CDC-recommended sanitary measures to ensure the health of staff, volunteers and donors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional precautions include:

• Checking staff, donor and volunteer temperatures before entering a drive to make sure they are healthy.
• Providing hand sanitizer for use before entering the drives and throughout the donation process.
• Following social distancing between donors including entry, donation and refreshment areas.
• Ensuring staff, donors and volunteers wear face masks or coverings and providing masks to those who need them.
• Routinely disinfecting surfaces, equipment and donor-touched areas.
• Wearing gloves and changing gloves often.
• Using sterile collection sets and an aseptic scrub for every donation.

For more information or to volunteer, visit carolinablooddrive.unc.edu.