Issue date: 12/1/06 Section: Campus Life

Media Credit: Spokesman Staff Photographer

Not Spiderman, Batman, Superman or even the Incredibles, the Superheroes are our very own Morganites. They have for the third consecutive semester, stood up to the challenge of saving lives and warding off diseases such as leukemia and diabetes.
On September 17th, the American Red Cross in conjunction with Dr. Karen Proudford's Honors Business Leadership class, the Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, and the MSU Student Chapter of the NAACP, organized another Blood and Bone Marrow Drive. Leading up to this day, the business leadership students recruited donors and volunteers for the drive. This semester's Red Cross Campaign was "Be A Superhero: What is your Type?" This tagline illustrates the Red Cross' goal of recruiting all blood types to donate blood. 220 Morgan Superheroes signed up to donate and 139 units of blood were generated. This result translates to 417 lives that can be potentially saved! 50 people also registered with the bone marrow program.
Many may wonder what happens to the blood of our Superheroes after they donate. After donation, blood is stored in transport containers that keep the blood at a safe temperature until it reaches the Red Cross Laboratories. Each blood donation is uniquely labeled with a bar code that helps track the progress of the blood until it reaches a local hospital. The bar code appears on sample tubes of blood, the blood bags and your donor record. Use of the bar code ensures that no information about the donor is seen by those who handle the blood. After labeling, a sample of each blood donation is sent to the National Testing laboratory, Nucleic Acid Testing Laboratory, and the component laboratory.
At the National Testing Laboratory and the Nucleic Acid Testing Laboratory, blood is tested for blood type and transmissible diseases such as HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis. In the component Lab, blood is separated into red blood cells; platelets and plasma after the white blood cells are removed.
By separating the blood into three component parts every single blood donation can save up to three lives! The red blood cells can benefit patients with chronic anemia, the plasma can be used for patients with serious liver diseases or burns, and the platelets can be used for patients with leukemia or those undergoing cancer therapy.
After separation, the blood is stored in temperature-controlled refrigeration until results from test labs are received. Upon receipt of the results, safe blood is placed in the Red Cross distribution centers and then transported to local hospitals throughout Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia and Pennsylvania, based on the needs of patients. Any blood that tests positive for transmissible diseases is carefully destroyed, and the donor is notified confidentially by trained professionals.
Donors and volunteers received free superhero T-shirts and donors were eligible to win two palm pilots raffled. Congratulations to the winners of the Palm Pilots: Jhnell Davis and Ebonnie Duncan. The planning committee would especially like to thank Coach Davis, the school administration and members of Alpha Nu Omega for their support. We applaud all donors and volunteers for giving precious gifts of blood and making another successful drive happen!

For more information about the next semester's blood drive please contact 'Kemi at faade1@mymail.morgan.edu.

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