Sharks bleed for a cause

By Sneha Subhash •

Alain Gauthier, account representative of OneBlood. Since 2013, OneBlood has come to NSU and received blood donations from many students and faculty, said. But that is not enough.

Gauthier said blood banks in Florida are running low, which has been a catalyst for OneBlood’s campaign for more donors.

“Every three seconds, a person in the U.S. needs blood. If you donate today, you’re going to save like three people’s lives,”

Gauthier said. “Our role is to find out partnerships in the community, so we can bring buses there, also to recruit and help with the donor information.”

OneBlood, a nonprofit organization operating across Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, is the main supplier of blood to local hospitals in the region.

“Basically what we do is we collect and process blood for all of the local hospitals.

All of the blood that the patient received in Florida, in the hospital, that blood comes from us,” Gauthier said.

“We collect the blood and in the community we send it to the central lab and process it.

Within 72 hours, it’s back to the hospitals.” Gauthier said the idea of giving blood may feel intimidating at first for students, but stressed how the process is safe and relatively quick.

“You have to be 16 and older, bring a photo ID, and then answer some electronic screening questions.

If you’re cleared, we check your vitals, iron levels, and then the actual donation only takes about 12 to 15 minutes,” Gauthier said.

Students who chose to donate said it felt meaningful to know their actions had real impact.

“I was nervous at first because I had never donated blood before,” Pragya Srivastava, junior biology major, said.

“But the staff made me feel comfortable, and once I realized it only takes a few minutes, it didn’t feel scary at all.

The idea that my blood could help someone in a hospital tomorrow was worth it.” OneBlood also tries to make the experience rewarding in small ways.

“We cannot pay for blood because that’s priceless, of course, because you’re saving lives.

But we do have a gift card. Like today we have like $20 gift card, sometimes a T-shirt or movie tickets,” Gauthier said.

Serena Cibi, junior biology major, said giving blood reminded her of why she wanted to pursue a career in health care.

“When they told me that one donation could save up to three lives, I thought that was incredible,” Cibi said.

“I know patients who depend on blood transfusions, so it feels good to actually do something that could directly help them.”