Mercer County Community College and Fulton Bank co-hosted the campus’s annual blood drive on January 30 in the Student Center. The Red Cross was set up in room SC104 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and students, faculty and staff were invited to donate.
Nurse Melissa Rasnow, who was working the event, stated, “There is always a blood storage, especially around holiday time.”
The American Red Cross Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware Region issued a statement on January 6 on Twitter, calling for volunteers because there is a “critical need for blood and platelet donors after the holidays w/ less than a 3 day supply of type O.”
Athletic Director John Simone, who donated and donates every year, said “[The Red Cross] made it very aware that there is a shortage in New Jersey and that they need people to donate, so if I can do a little part once a year to donate, I’ve felt like I’ve done my part.”
According to Simone, the event generally has an average of 42 donators, but this year only 22 showed up, and of those, only 19 were able to donate.
Very few students attended the blood drive. Faculty and staff made up most of the donors.
Some students may have not donated based on myths about certain restrictions. Students may have heard things like tattoos can make them ineligible to donate and misunderstood the reality
Nurse Louis Rivera said, “[The regulations] all depend on certain states. If you got a tattoo in New Jersey, you can donate tomorrow.”
That regulation is not the same in states like New York, which have longer waiting periods.
Piercings are another area that is taken into special consideration where blood donation is concerned.
With piercings, Rivera stated, “It has to be done with a sterile needle. It can’t be [performed] with a piercing gun,” in order to qualify a person for blood donation.
The wrong methods of piercing can make people more susceptible to blood born illnesses–even ones they are not aware of–that can be passed on in the donation process.
According to justia.com New Jersey’s State Sanitary Code 26:1A-7 handles “the preservation and improvement of public health” which includes regulating tattooing and piercings.
However, according to Rasnow, the most significant restriction for blood donation involves whether or not the donor has traveled to a part of the world with high rates of malaria infection.
Other major restrictions are having low hemoglobin levels, or simply being under the age of 17, which is an automatic disqualifier.
For those who qualify to donate but missed out, the American Red Cross has a Central Donation Center in Princeton, on Alexander Rd, less than 15 minutes from both the MCCC campuses.
