For a variety of reasons, donated blood is necessary. Accidents and organ transplants are just two examples that may require a person to receive blood from someone else.
On Nov. 25, in Alumni Hall, FHP (Future Health Professionals) and SGA (Student Government Association) offered a blood drive for students at NEIU’s main campus.
In addition to snacks, free t-shirts were available and there was a drawing for an ipod. David Benjaih is the current webmaster for FHP and is a Student Government senator. Previously, Benjaih has functioned as the FHP president (two years), the vice president (one year) and the treasurer (one year). Benjaih explained that FHP was originally called Future Physicians Society and then became all inclusive, accepting members with interests in becoming chiropractors, nurses, veterinarians or other health related fields.
Benjaih explained that blood drives are done minimally every 56 days. “The group does five drives every year, and the drives are scheduled with the greatest frequency of donor availability and student convenience, we avoid finals. So, it’s done early and late in the semester and the last one was Sept. 22 and the next one is sometime between Jan. 20 or 28, 2009,” stated Benjaih.
“The Sept. 22 drive was a two day event,” according to Benjaih. “November and January are one day drive events, and the late March or early April drive is a two day drive, and will occur after spring break. There will be another blood drive in late June or July, which will be a one day event.”
On a table at the entrance of the blood drive event was a booklet that contained information about restricted donors and the reasons why blood couldn’t be accepted. Then there was an interview prior to the extraction of blood. According to Benjaih, people who have been in countries with infectious diseases in the last year and most Europeans can’t donate blood due to mad cow disease.” If someone has visited a country with known infectious diseases, there’s a latency period of one year after being in an area with infectious diseases.
To get people to donate blood, Benjaih uses a salesman’s approach. He stated that you just have to contact people, and it’s a matter of getting out there and talking to people. He said that personal contact gets a response and the impulse buying approach is more effective, meaning when someone can donate blood immediately after saying they will is more effective than pre-recruiting, which is when the group sets appointments for blood donations in Village Square two to three days before the actual drive.
It is apparent that Benjaih is passionate about what he does and his passion is conveyed while he stands in the hallway and attempts to get people to donate blood. Benjaih agrees that he does have a passion for it and enjoys doing it. It’s a great expedient to saving lives. 80 percent of all persons in the first world will require a blood transfusion before death, and only five percent of persons in the first world donate blood.
The FHP has made progress since their first blood drive five years ago. At the first blood drive, they received blood from seven donors. At this particular blood drive, FHP set a low goal of 35 donors. They received 42 donors, and exceeded their goal. The FHP here at NEIU and the University of Chicago are both close in terms of having the most donors.