GROSSMONT COLLEGE –The demand for blood at hospitals throughout San Diego County is approximately 400 pints per day.  Last week Grossmont College students successfully donated 94 pints, somewhat more than 23.5 percent of the county’s daily need.  A specially equipped Blood-Mobile was set up on the Main Quad for the purpose on Monday, Sept. 13, and Tuesday, Sept. 14.

Leslie Eagan, marketing manager for San Diego Blood Bank, said donors gave a pint of blood each, and that of the total, 30 were first-time donors.  The total would have been even higher except for the fact that 20 persons were turned away because a quick blood test found that they  had low iron, or the form they filled out revealed that they had recently traveled to areas of the world plagued by malaria.

Each pint of blood drawn has the potential of saving an average of two lives, Eagan said, because blood is divided into such component parts as platelets, plasma and red cells.  One patient may receive a transfusion of one part of the blood, and another patient may receive a different part from the same sample.

Suzie Lopez, an LVN who is a blood collection specialist, said only 6 percent of the general population gives blood.  Compared to the demand for blood in San Diego County, this percentage is “severely low.”   Therefore donating blood is a “community service,” she said.

Kat Stetler, a Grossmont student in the cardiovascular technician program, said she donates blood “to save lives.”  Another student, Alexis Wainwright, said she gives blood frequently “because it is a good thing.”

“There is no substitute for human blood,” said Eagan, who noted that the Blood-Mobile will return to campus in November. 

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Jacquett is a student in Media Communications 132, the class that publishes the GC Summit