About 140 students donated to Student Blood Services on Wednesday and Thursday, a significant number given the decrease from post-Sept. 11 peaks and the traditionally lower Winter Quarter turnout, said Laura Sell, SBS co-president.
Cold weather and illness typically result in fewer donations during Winter Quarter, Sell said. While SBS holds two drives during Fall Quarter, they hold only one during the winter.
“Weather plays a very large factor,” said Sell, a Weinberg senior. “People are more often sick – and you can’t donate when you’re sick – or they’re on antibiotics.”
Students who donated at Thursday’s blood drive inside the Louis Room at Norris University Center said the decrease in donors from the first Fall Quarter blood drive was noticeable.
“It took me three hours to donate (last quarter) because it was so backed up,” said Weinberg freshman Lars Johnson, who waited about an hour before donating blood Thursday afternoon.
The first blood drive of Fall Quarter drew about 300 people, a jump from about 115 people during the final blood drive of Spring Quarter in May. Sell said the increase could be due to a more “philanthropic-focused” freshman class or the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“We had a great number of freshmen voice interest in our organization, both in volunteering and donating,” Sell said. “I remember people saying ‘I’m from New York, Long Island, New Jersey – I feel very strongly about donating blood.'”
The second drive of Fall Quarter drew about 140 donors. This week’s figure matched the earlier drive because some of the donors might be the same ones who contributed to the first drive after Sept. 11.
While the number of donors has increased, fewer volunteers have worked at the blood drives this year, Sell said. But additional employees from LifeSource, the company that operates the blood drives, have assisted at the check-in table and with donors, decreasing need for student workers, she said.
Students helped give pretzels and juice to those who had just donated blood and needed to rest about 20 minutes before continuing their day. Sell also said volunteers usually help publicize by handing out fliers at the Rock and hanging signs around campus.
“The weather was so lousy today that I didn’t have the heart to do that,” Sell said.
But Sell said added publicity probably would not have helped turnout since most students have planned their day by the time they find out about the drive, leaving little time to donate.
Some Chicago-area hospitals also have seen a drop in donations this winter after the peak that followed Sept. 11.
Julie Chin Bloom, a donor recruiter at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said an abnormally low number of people donate within the Chicago area.
“People who donate blood now tend to be the regulars,” Chin Bloom said. “I don’t think we got a large funnel of people who came back after (donating after) the disaster.”
