By Kristin Martin
Published on November 21, 2007
The Northwest Florida Blood Center will be holding a blood drive at the Pensacola campus on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in between the Student Center and the math building.
“We’re the community blood center, so pretty much all the blood that the hospitals use comes from our center,” says Kendra Camariotes from the Northwest Florida Blood Center, “What the students donate stays in the community, so one of their friends could be using it if they have a surgery or if they have to go in the hospital for any reason and they receive blood.”
The Northwest Florida Blood Center has started a competition between each PJC campus to see which one can get the most donors. Last month, the Milton campus won with 35 “sign-ins”.
As of now, due to the lack of buses, the blood center is unable to be at all three of the PJC campuses at the same time although they do visit a PJC campus every 8 weeks.
“In January, we’re going to start trying to [visit all of the campuses] around the same time, to help spike up a little bit more competition,” said Camariotes.
After blood donors sign in, they will go into a screening booth to be asked questions about their health and travel. Then they will get their blood pressure, hematocrit, and temperature tested before their blood is drawn. Donors will be given a snack, drink and t-shirt. That process takes 30-45 minutes to complete. First time blood donors will need to show an ID.
“This time of year we have an increased need [for blood] because people are out of town and on vacation, so we definitely have more of a need during the holiday season,” says Camariotes.
The blood type O negative is the most needed because it is a universal donor and is the most used.
A person can safely donate blood every 8 weeks. One donation can save up to three lives.