By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 17, 2012
With Halloween right around the corner, there’s talk of zombies, gore and horror from every angle.
UFV’s Biology and Chemistry Student Association (BCSA) is also talking blood – but their event, planned for this Thursday, October 18, is far from creepy. They’ve organized a blood drive on campus, and Canadian Blood Services (CBS) will be working at UFV’s Abbotsford campus from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. accepting blood donations from any students, faculty or staff who are willing to give.
Anyone interested in donating can stop by the North Gym of the Envision Athletic Centre throughout the day, where CBS volunteers will take about a pint of blood from each participant.
Although the event itself is only a few hours long, it represents years of planning.
“I started donating probably in my first year, and it just became something I was almost addicted to,” says Danielle Hamel, BCSA VP academic and driving force behind this project.
She began volunteering after travelling made her temporarily ineligible to give blood, and the process became something she wanted to share with other students.
“I thought, ‘well, a lot of students would donate blood if there was [a clinic] on campus,’” Hamel explains.
She contacted CBS to organize a day students could donate on campus, and with the support of the BSCA they started working closely together last year to make the event a reality.
Hamel says there are a couple of things students should keep in mind if they want to donate blood.
“There are a lot of common sense things, like make sure you have a full meal before you go in … don’t drink a lot of coffee because it’s a diuretic and it will make it harder to donate,” Hamel notes. “Afterwards, make sure you wait your 10-15 minutes at the table and have your cookies and your juice.”
If students can’t make it to the clinic on Thursday, there are clinics throughout the Fraser Valley several times a week, and CBS is always looking for more donors.
Members of the BCSA have been handing out flyers all week to help raise awareness for the event. Hamel says that no matter what, she expects it’ll be a success.
“There’s a lot of interest in it, it’s just a matter of getting people registered. Right now we’re at 55 per cent booked,” she notes. “They prefer to have mostly booked and not have a lot of walk-ins, but considering it’s a campus, there are going to be a lot of walk-ins.”
UFV isn’t the first BC university to organize a blood drive on campus; Trinity Western University holds a similar event at which they’ve raised approximately 70 units of blood every year for the past three years.
“One unit of blood improves a life, and two to three units save a life,” Hamel notes. “I think it would be awesome if we could at least meet how much they do, if not exceed it.”
Students are encouraged to register online, but anyone is welcome to drop in to donate between classes or appointments. More information is available at the BCSA Facebook page or the Canadian Blood Services website.
