Drive may help thousands

Allen Glazner may never meet the person whose life his blood will save.

But Glazner, chairman of the geology department at UNC, said he could not miss the chance to give blood. He has type O negative.

“Someday you may need it, you never know, so it’s a good thing to do,” he said. “People really need it.”

The Carolina Blood Drive is set up at the Dean E. Smith Center by University staff every summer to compensate for a national drop in blood donations during summer months.

An estimated 97 percent of the population will be touched by the need for blood at some point in their lives, said Katrina Coble, chair of the Carolina Blood Drive committee.

“The blood collected will help ensure that when those products are needed, they will be available,” she said.

The goal for this year’s drive was 1,000 units of blood, but organizers collected only 784 units Tuesday. One unit of blood can help up to three patients.

Part of the reason for this shortage may be the need to improve the drive’s advertising strategies, said Caroline Allison, an American Red Cross donor recruitment representative for the drive.

Blood drive organizers are attempting to reach out to a wider demographic, including new faculty members and summer school students who may not be aware of the annual drive, in order to attract more donors.

Organizers have set up a website, a Facebook page and a Twitter account in recent years to attract more donations.

“We’re really trying to plug into social media,” Allison said. “We’re still trying to reach out to younger donors that way, and we’re really trying to increase our visibility.”

Lynn Eades, who runs the blood drive’s website, said she has seen the use of social media has increased the number of potential donors reached through advertising.

“I think we need to do some more advertising, especially if we’re going to do this drive,” she said.

Typically the drive’s attendees consist of faculty members and staff at UNC, but Coble said organizers would love to see more summer school students involved.

“It actually doesn’t take as much time as students might think,” Coble said. “If the students would come, we’d love to have them here.”

Coble said she would like to thank all of the donors who gave blood Tuesday.

Students can drive to the Smith Center and park for free on the day of blood drive. It typically takes between an hour and an hour and a half to donate.

“An hour and half to save people’s lives is a small exchange,” Allison said.

Julia Cheek, a team supervisor for the American Red Cross for 23 years, said volunteers recently got a chance to see the results of their hard work when a little girl in remission for leukemia came to a staff meeting to talk to them.

“She got blood from blood we’ d been given,” Cheek said. “It’s great to see what that blood is doing, how it’s working for people that really need it.”

Cheek said the blood drives can also be fun.

“You get to meet interesting people,” she said. “Today I met 3 or 4 football players and the coach when they came to give blood, which was exciting.”

Contact the University Editor
at university@dailytarheel.com.