On Feb. 19, New England College will be hosting their first blood drive of the 2025 spring semester.
There are four blood drives held on campus every school year: two in the fall and two in the spring. Two drives are held each semester because people can donate every 56 days if they do a whole blood donation.
“We space the drives out [so] people who donated this February drive can be eligible for the one coming up in April,” said Allie Birchmeier, Director of First Year Programs.
Currently, there are seven slot appointments that have not been filled as of today. The school usually tries to register 10-20 people over the goal number to equate to the people who aren’t available the day of the blood drive. The goal for each drive is 35 pints of blood.
“We’ve hit our goal every drive,” Birchmeier said.
Some of those spots are for whole blood donations, while other appointment slots are available for power red donations. Only certain people are available for power red donations depending on the person’s blood type. New donors must donate a whole blood donation first so their blood type can be determined. Donors who have an O positive, O negative, A negative or B negative blood type and meet the required height and weight will be able to give a power red donation if they wish to.
“They take your blood, filter it and cycle it, and they take out just the red blood cells,” Birchmeier said, describing the power red donation process. “So they take out twice the amount of red blood cells. They give you back all the other parts of your blood. A lot of people – when they do a power red – feel better because they don’t take a lot of fluid out of your system.”
This kind of donation takes a little longer than other donations, but help a lot of people who suffer from blood diseases.
When asked why these drives are important to have on college campuses, Allie Birchmeier said, “It is good to get people, when they are younger, to get into the habit of donating blood. We have a number of community members that come to our blood drives, and they’ve been donating for years. When people get into the habit of donating, or you know, try it once or twice, then often times they continue to give blood.”
One of the other reasons she bought up was the blood shortage, especially with natural disasters like the hurricanes and flooding last fall creating a blood need. The donation sites in areas that have experienced these disasters often shut down, so they need or take blood from other areas.
“The need is always there. People are always needing donations, whether it’s for a medical condition or an accident or surgery,” Birchmeier said.
Birchmeier explained that NEC’s diversity makes the blood drives even more advantageous. The sub blood types of a student body from so many genetic backgrounds makes it possible to get donations from those with blood types needed to help treat diseases like sickle cell anemia.
For the last couple years, NEC and the Red Cross have collected 1,100 units of blood and have had over 1,200 different donors.
If you miss Wednesday’s blood drive but still wish to donate, the next drive will be held on April 16, which also falls on a Wednesday.
