HIGH POINT, N.C., Sept. 16, 2022 – High Point University’s student Emergency Medical Services hosted a blood drive on Wednesday, Sept. 14, in partnership with the American Red Cross, Sigma Nu and Alpha Chi Omega.
The blood drive, held from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the Slane Gym basketball courts, exceeded students’ goal by collecting 92 units of blood from 110 donors. The effort was in response to the health care system’s dire need of blood. Just one donated pint can save up to three lives.
“We’re always in need,” says Karen Oakley, ARC team supervisor. “COVID-19 impacted us hard because we weren’t able to have blood drives at a lot of our sites. Now at the end of summer, people are traveling and schools have started back. High school and college students make up the majority of our blood drives.”
Ryan Hanrahan, an HPU senior from St. Simons Island, Georgia, donated via a power red cells system that provides two units of blood and is preferred by hospitals, Oakley said.
“I try to donate blood as often as I can; I consider it a very valuable thing in life,” says Hanrahan. “Especially with COVID-19, there’s been a shortage of blood. I specifically do power red because of my blood type (O+). It’s beneficial for other people.”
Walter Crowley, assistant chief of HPU EMS and an emergency medical technician, agreed whole blood products are the biggest need.
“When you have a trauma patient who has lost a lot of blood, we have to work to replenish that,” says Crowley. “During the pandemic, we didn’t have any donations so the storage we did have was depleted. There’s a big push from the Red Cross to bring out donors to help replenish those stocks.”
HPU regularly hosts blood drives throughout the year to support the American Red Cross.