By Hannah Lundquist —
Over the course of one year the American Red Cross collects approximately 15 million donations across the country, which accounts for about 40 percent of the United States’ blood supply. Usually here at Stout we are able to bring in approximately 50 donations per blood drive.
Blood drives are extremely important and one single blood donation has the power to potentially save up to three people’s lives.
Blood drives take place all over the country, and University of Wisconsin–Stout is no exception. Each year there are four events hosted in the Memorial Student Center, at least two a semester. The most recent drive was February 1st. Unfortunately, there isn’t anybody to collect information and statistics specifically for our campus and our students during the blood drives, but luckily the American Red Cross compiles statistics, and dare I say fun facts, about blood donation across the United States as a whole.
Nationwide, in a battle of the sexes, blood donation ends up in a tie; half of Red Cross donors are male, and half are female. Another way to look at blood donation is if you began donating blood at age 17 and donated every 56 days until you reached 76, you would have donated 48 gallons of blood, potentially helping save more than 1,000 lives!
The American Red Cross website, redcross.org, can be accessed at any time to find out more about the process and what to expect if you are interested in donating.
One issue about UW–Stout blood drives is the lack of knowledge about the events. Blood donations would most likely increase if there was more information online and available to students around campus.