Dana Fellerman
GEN 1033, Honors: Life of the Mind
Dr. McGovern
9.18.2014
On Thursday September 18th, 2014 the American Red Cross was hosting a two day blood drive at Big Blue on the Stockton campus. I had registered to be a blood donor during Welcome Week when the Red Cross had a table set up looking for potential volunteers. Before coming to Stockton I have donated blood quite a few times during my high school career to the Blood Center of New Jersey and I was overjoyed knowing I can still help donate as the American Red Cross does blood drives in the fall and spring semesters in two day intervals. Waking up this morning I proceeded to follow the basic steps prior to donating blood which included drinking plenty of water, eating a good breakfast and having a snack before donation times to reduce the likeliness of becoming ill or dizzy.
My appointment was at noon, so I proceeded to head over a few minutes early to get my check in done before waiting to have a check up to make sure I was qualified to be a donor today. When I was all ready to donate, the medical instructors were very nice and helped me get settled in before proceeding to stick the needle into my arm to donate blood. As the procedure went on, I had very nice conversations with instructors and a donor laying across from me on another bed. When I was finished I sat down with the other donors and volunteers to have snacks to replenish our blood sugars while we chatted with each other before departing to live our college campus lives or go to class.
I love to volunteer in blood drives; being part of a blood drive is one of the best experiences a person can attend to because you are donating to help save a life and give blood to someone who really needs it in the hospital. The medical instructors are here to ensure everyone who is donating has blood that is safe for donating as infected blood can contaminate other blood bags quickly and go through the donation process with the donors. Blood drives are just one of many volunteering opportunities here at Stockton on and off campus but it is one of the most important communities to help support and I will give my full support to individuals or communities in need.