Sheila SobchikUnited Blood Services of the Central Coast currently does not have the supplies to see it through the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, when demand for blood typically increases severely.
“A lot of traveling goes on and more car accidents occur,” communication studies senior Brinn Baker said.
Baker, along with speech communication senior Nicole Wellman, has helped promote today’s on-campus blood drive as a part of her senior project. United Blood Services will have its mobile station set up on Mott Lawn today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in coordination with the Student Health and Wellness Team.
Today’s blood drive coincides with United Blood Service’s Memorial Day Challenge, a push for the organization to collect at least 3,000 pints of blood before the weekend, which are needed to ensure sufficient blood supplies.
Baker said the need for blood increases during Memorial Day weekend because a lot of people are traveling and performing unsafe activities, but that’s a reality.
“You’re not going to feel too bad for the drunk driver who needs the blood, but if an unsuspecting person gets hit then they need it too,” she said.
United Blood Services needs all blood types, especially O-, A- and B-, which the organization lists as “critically low” on its Web site.
In addition to the 3,000 pints needed before Memorial Day weekend, United Blood Services estimates it will require at least 3,000 more pints before June 9 in order to ensure a sufficient supply of blood into the early summer months.
“Compared to Thanksgiving and Christmas when you feel like there’s more of that motivation to give to others, I feel like in summer you don’t quite get that,” Baker said.
College students, who make up the largest demographic of blood donators, typically leave the San Luis Obispo area during the summer, leaving Central Coast blood supplies at their lowest.
Baker lists fear of needles and an unwillingness to give their time as the top reasons many choose not to donate blood.
“They pull the, ‘I’m too busy’ thing a lot,” Baker said, although “it only takes 45 minutes.”
As a part of their campaign, Baker and Wellman asked students in Cal Poly classrooms if they had time an open, 45-minute time slot between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Tuesdays. Almost