Blood Drives at Oregon State

University

Taking a look at the historical landscape.

A project for Geo 522, Winter 2008.

Scott Waggoner

IntroductionAn important part of college life that can often be overshadowed is the impact of a blood

drive. Just as students are getting ready to engage in skills that they will use for the rest of their

lives, campus blood drives present an opportunity and challenge to bring in a new donor base

which may go on to donate for the rest of their lives. Often it only takes that one time in which

someone decides to try it out, that they overcome any fears or regrets that the process might

have and feel a sense of relief and satisfaction in being able to say I’ve saved a life today.

The focus of my Master’s research

project is currently striving to bring a spatial

perspective to the current practices of the regional

blood bank. The Red Cross Pacific Northwest

Blood Region alone needs about 5,000 units of

blood each week to provide for the region. These

blood donations are divided into three parts,

providing life saving products to three potential

hospital patients. A spatial perspective can help to

identify regional factors that may enhance or inhibit

donations. For example, in Bend recently the tactic

of attending Gun Shows was taken on. Although it

raised some eyebrows in confusion, the tactic paid

off well with increased donations.

1952 OSU Blood Drive, OSU Archives

1

Blood Drives at Oregon State UniversityAt Oregon State University, one of the largest blood drives in the nation is held each

term. The campus drive brings in nearly 1,000 units of blood a term with about 1,200 attempting

to donate. With a first time donor average of about 17% of the donors each term, there is

significant reason to believe these donors become donors for life. It is believed that this drive is

so successful because of the social landscape that has been created. Oregon State University is

a large-scale university in a small-scale town far from major cities. This means that unlike other

Universities, Oregon State lacks commuter students and therefore has a more captive audience

with significant amount of time to space on campus while waiting for the next class or meeting.

The drive on campus has actually gone beyond the message of saving lives to one of actually

being a part of what it means to be a college student at Oregon State University.

Introduction

The drive on campus is currently operated the Monday through Thursday of the Fall,

Winter, and Spring terms over at the Memorial Union Ballroom. However, this isn’t how it has

always been and with a deep history dating back at least the 50s and 60s there has been an

evolutionary process that has defined the current drive. As new ideas are considered for the

future, the messages of the past can’t be ignored. That is why this project aimed at searching

through records to determine what changes occur, and then to evaluate the historic landscape to

try and find the reasoning to avoid repeating mistakes from the past.

The top 10 sponsors for blood in the Pacific Northwest Region during the 1997-98 fiscal year-1) Oregon State University, 2,852 units2) Western Oregon University, 893 units3) Tektronix-Beaverton, 797 units4) Oregon Institute of Technology, 639 units5) Intel-Jones Farm, 602 units6) Boeing of Portland, 545 units7) Dallas Civic Center, 542 units8) Intel-Ronler Acres, 523 units9) Hewlett-Packard of Corvallis, 510 units10) Intel-Aloha, 481 units

American Red Cross/ OSU News Services 1

2

GoalsTo look at the history of the Oregon State drive, several questions and objectives were

kept in mind as a jumping off point for the research. Goals were set in conjunction with Red

Cross personnel and what data could be made available.

Introduction

•Obtain historic data for blood drive operations at Oregon State

•Evaluate the historic landscapes to attempt a look at factors that may have had impacts on performance.

•What days have blood drives been held on in the past? Why were changes made?

•What hours have the blood drives been run? Why were changes made?

•How has seasonality of the blood drives affected performance?

•How have changing regulations for blood collections impacted the campus?

•What role does the greater community have on the Oregon State blood drive?

•Can this information be used to help judge where the blood drives on campus should go in the future?

The final question presents the real premise of the project, in that all of these questions

are currently needing answers to determine the direction the future should take.

3

MethodologyBased upon the goals above, two distinct methods

were used to answer the key questions. First, data was

collected from blood drives dating as far back as possible.

Second, the data trends and results were discussed via

personal interviews to determine the role of the historic

landscape, and if these factors still exist to today.

The current territory representative for this part of the

Pacific Northwest Regional Blood Collections of the American

Red Cross spent a day going through the records for the

Oregon State University donor site. Data from the

computerized Hemosphere (pictured upper right) program

presented data from Spring 2004 to the present. Before that,

the Red Cross used a system called Mobile Sched (pictured

lower right), an older database that was maintained by hand

written records. These two database systems had a variety of

different data, and some data was not collected. The Red

Cross is mainly interested in results, and as such focuses on

collected units rather than attendance. For the purposes of this

project, data for daily collections (complete units of blood

collected) was compared to goals set forth before the drive.

Hemosphere Data

Mobile Sched DataNb – no personally

identifiable data appears here

4

Evaluating the Historic LandscapeAs was seen in The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes, the definition of landscape

can take on several different dimensions of meaning. With the campus blood drive landscape is

best described as a system2, in which the drive is simply one part of a greater process with many

possible causes and responses to any change in the rest of the system. For example, a change

in enrollment at OSU would greatly impact donor turnout. There are a great many potential

vectors to explore, and interpretation of how and why the data changed over time took a bit of

help.

To take a look at the historic landscape, personal interviews were conducted with the

Red Cross Territory Representatives who managed the drives over the times of data collected.

This includes Janice Hardy (the current territory representative as of Spring 07), Tim Lippert

(currently the director of collections for the greater Portland area, was territory representative for

OSU from 2004 to 2006), and Douglas Tracy (now retired, ran the OSU drives from Fall 1995 to

Spring 2003). They were asked to provide any details or commentary from when they ran the

drive, as well as what they heard from before and after they ran the drive. A lot of comparisons

were made to how historically the drive compares to what we know from today. In addition, input

was requested as to what might be needed to be taken into consideration for the future.

It is worth noting that while this project hoped to go farther back in time, through the

process of researching this project it was determined by the Red Cross that microfiche data from

before 1993 had been accidentally disposed of and was lost. Since the Red Cross Blood

Services area is very progressive thinking, they seldom look at or refer to historical data as they

are busy looking into meeting future goals. This project was well received by the associated

parties above as to have someone finally take a historic approach that appreciates the work that

has been done in the past and use it to help define the future.

Methodology5

ResearchData was obtained from Fall 1993 to present (summary

results are posted to the right) and compared to personal

perspectives from the drive territory representatives. Keeping

goals in mind, the following pages go case by case discussing

various elements of a blood drive and how this landscape has

effected it, both now and historically.

• Days of the Drive

– The creation of the Blood Drive Association,

• Hours of the drive

– Taking Staff into Consideration

• Seasonality of the drive

– Civil War Blood Drive

• Changing Regulations

– HIV/AIDS

– Mad Cow Disease

– Tattoos

• Changing Practices

– Appointments vs. Walk-Ins

– Summer Drive

– Double Red Cell

• Greater Community

– Fixed Site

913Winter

948Fall

07-08

905Spring

855Winter 2562

802Fall

06-07

841Spring

764Winter 2487

882Fall

05-06

816Spring

769Winter 2632

1047Fall

04-05

819Spring

785Winter 2543

939Fall

03-04

689Spring

879Winter 2496

928Fall

02-03

712Spring

875Winter 2593

1006Fall

01-02

747Spring

1004Winter 2777

1026Fall

00-01

787Spring

993Winter 2891

1111Fall

99-00

760Spring

869Winter 2716

1087Fall

98-99

812Spring

994Winter 2702

896Fall

97-98

810Spring

811Winter 2551

930Fall

96-97

809Spring

722Winter 2314

783Fall

95-96

735Spring

948Winter 2589

906Fall

94-95

773Spring

822Winter 2511

916Fall

93-94

833Spring93

YearTotal

TermTotalTermYear 6

Table 1.0, Data Summary Totals

Days of the DriveOn a college campus the day of an event can define who comes to the event. People

have different schedules depending on the day, and at OSU we have well defined standard

Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes as well as Tuesday/Thursday classes that tend to be a bit

longer. In addition, college students schedules are very defined by when assignments and

projects are due. On the following page several graphs were constructed to display how days of

the week have faired for the collected data.

The top two graphs (Figures 1.0 and 1.1) took into account the weekly average for each

drive, and then compared the individual days to see if they were below the average or above the

average. It is worth note that in the fall of 2003, a fourth day (Monday) was added to the drive

and therefore fewer Mondays are included. The tables seem to show that the start of the week

underperforms compared to the end of the week. Taking a look at the raw data, it appears that

this is more the case in the past six years than it was during the 90s and early 21st century. In

fact, in Fall of 2000 there was actually a drive in which the first day of the drive (Tuesday)

outperformed both Wednesday and Thursday. This point becomes apparent in the third graph

(Figure 1.2) which displays which day performed best during each week of the drive. Thursdays

appear to have dominance as the biggest day of the drive.

There are many potential reasons as to why this progression of donations through the

week occurs. Staff actually refer to Thursday as ‘Chicken-day’, as it tends to attract people who

procrastinated during the first few days of the drives and have to come at that point. Thursday

also marks the end of the academic week for many people, meaning they have less to stress

about than any other day. Older data seems to indicate that Wednesday used to be the best day

a lot more often, which could be a sign of changes in desired class schedules on campus

7

Days of the DriveFigure 1.0, Occurances above average by day since Spring 93

0 4

41

40

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursday

Figure 1.1, Occurances below average by day since Spring 93

14

41

45

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursday

Figure 1.2, Best Day for the Week of the Drive since Spring 93

0%

2%

31%

67%

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursday

8

Blood Drive AssociationThe days of the drive were chosen a long time ago by the Red Cross staff. Things

changed when a great deal of the setup work was transferred to a campus student organization

that was founded on campus, the OSU Blood Drive Association (BDA). Creation of the BDA

started in 2002 when several students from Halsell Hall met with the Red Cross coordinator for

the drive at the time, Douglas Tracy. Halsell Hall, at the time, was a brand new residence hall

that was community service focused. Residents were actually required to take on projects to live

there. This collaboration led to the formation for a group that services the entire campus. The

BDA is tasked with assisting in the operations of blood drives held on campus, by providing

promotions, managing appointments, and providing volunteers the day of the event.

With a student voice strongly in the operations, things started to change. Within a year,

the BDA requested that the drive be run over four days (Monday to Thursday) instead of three

days (Tuesday to Thursday). From talking with Douglas Tracy, he said that the decision was ill-

advised by him due to the nature of the beginning of the week already being slow. The first drive

with a Monday was held in the Fall of 2003, and although it didn’t meet the goals set forth Tracy

said it was a big success. This is because it helped reduce the stress of the last few days and

offered students more options.

OSU Blood Drive Association Logo

Days of the Drive

The BDA, Fall 2006

9

Hours of the DriveBeyond the day the drive is held, the hours

the drive is run can define a drives’ success as well.

With a campus drive, one has to take into

consideration students daily schedules and habits.

For example, students tend to only be on campus

between the time of their first class starting and last

class ending. Few students would want to get up any

earlier to come on campus before they needed to, and

students tend to be exhausted after a full day of

classes and be unwilling to participate in later events.

As such, the history of the drive has had a variety of

different drive hours.

11 AM to 4 PMFall 04

11 AM to 5 PMSpring 04

11 AM to 4 PMSpring 02

10 AM to 3 PMWinter 02

9:30 AM to 3:30 PMFall 01

10 AM to 3 PMWinter 98

10 AM to 2:30 PMFall 97

10 AM to 3 PMFall 95

10 AM to 4 PMSpring 93

Table 1.1, Sampling of Drive Hours.

The table to the upper right displays a sampling of drive hours from the data collected.

They represent when changes to the times occurred. Drive hours represent times at which new

donors are accepted. Actual operation times tend to be an hour before the drive for setup, and an

hour and a half after the drive (an hour to process the donor and about thirty minutes cleanup).

Douglas Tracy said that the shifts in time to be later was due to a lack of donors, because the

students either were not on campus yet, or were in class/work if they were. As can be seen on the

next page drives formerly were started at 9 AM, and slowly this was shifted to 10 AM, and now to

11 AM. This could be a shift in thinking over time, as historically students may have been more

willing and able to have morning commitments. Drives that were held at half-hours tended to

perform poorly as well, which was most likely because of confusion.

10

Hours of the Drive

Historical advertisements from the OSU Archives Memorabilia collection. Upper Left- 1992 Fall Drive, Right-1996 Spring Drive, Lower Left- A spring term (year unknown- the dates and drive time don’t match up with any of the obtained records).

11

Taking Staff into ConsiderationAnother point to consider when it comes to maintaining a blood drive is to look at staffing

considerations. The more staff available during a given hour, the faster it will take a donor to get

through the process. According to Douglas Tracy, staffing for blood drives goes through an ever

changing equation based upon goals. Due to the nature of the Oregon State drive and its scale,

he concluded that the existing staffing protocols don’t quite work. This is because of the nature

for student schedules to get out at certain points, and the reliance of the Oregon State drive on

walk-in donors. This is in contrast to typical blood drives held at businesses and churches, as

they only have appointments that limit the number of donors coming in during a 15 minute time

block.

2004 Spring Blood Drive, The Daily Barometer

Hours of the Drive

From conversations with Janice Hardy, it

becomes apparent how important staffing concerns

need to be. Being the largest drive, with often

significant lines of people waiting, it can be quite

daunting work. If a staff member becomes

frustrated or tired, this could result in a poor

experience for the donor. A domino effect has been

observed in that a poor experience for a donor can

lead to donation complications. Another donor or

staff member seeing this could put them out of

ease, making one complication turn into many. She

also noted that union requirements must be taken

into consideration as well.

12

SeasonalityTaking things to a broader scale, another goal was to look at the role of the season in

determining the drives success. With the existing blood drive it is known and expected for the

Fall term to outperform the Winter and Spring, with typically the Spring term being the second

largest and Winter taking third place. This historic data indicates that it used to be less

predictable, as up to 1998 the best performing term seemed to shift (see below). Since 1998, all

but the previous year had the Fall term drive being the largest performer.

This seems counter-intuitive, as events on campus traditionally bring in more later in the

year. The reasoning for this is that students get oriented with the campus and start to know

more about what is going on. It would make sense for a first time donor in the fall term to be

more willing to donate in the Winter and Spring given that they have gone over the hurdle

before.

211Spr

211Win

101111111111Fall

Total06-07

05-06

04-05

03-04

02-03

01-02

00-01

99-00

98-99

97-98

96-97

95-96

94-95

93-94

Best Term for Academic Years

10

2

2

FallWinterSpring

Left, Figure 1.3, A look at which term best performed for

each academic year.Below, Table 1.2, The best term

highlighted for each year.

13

Civil War Blood DriveIt is believed that what has kept the Fall term drive largest has been the introduction of a

Civil War competition that parallels that of the ongoing sports rivalry between Oregon State and

the University of Oregon. Douglas Tracy explained the origins of the project as occurring in

Spring 2002 when a similar collegiate competition was discussed in Michigan and how it

increased donations. Public Relations for the Red Cross got hold of the idea and made it a

reality for that Fall, to occur just prior to the Civil War Football game. This project marked a

partnership between four organizations; the American Red Cross, Lane Memorial Blood Bank,

the Oregon State University Alumni Association, and the University of Oregon Alumni

Association. To give a sense of perspective, it helps to think of Blood Banks as competing

businesses. For two Blood Banks to partner like this represented a big change to the blood

banking industry, and the 2004 Civil War drive earned an Educational Merit from the American

Association of Blood Banks.

Logo for the 2005 Civil War Blood Drive, ARC

Seasonality

The Civil War Blood Drive at its heart is a

statewide competition that occurs from the

beginning to middle of November. At most donation

sites, donors are asked to vote for a team in order

to receive a chance at free football tickets. Large

promotional efforts are made on television, radio,

and press releases. On campus, the week long

drive during that period of time tends to bring in

both the normal crowd, as well as the spirited crowd

that simply wants to see the Beavs beat the Ducks.

For more information, see www.civilwarblooddrive.com

14

Changing RegulationsWith a world that has ever become more aware of how things work, we continue to find

potential risks for the blood bank industry. This was first sparked during the 80s with the scare of

HIV/AIDs, in which blood transfusions were identified as a major vector for transmission of the

disease. Before that point of time, donation screening was handled by the blood bank itself and

sometimes even at the site of the donation. The need for more testing meant that extensive

facilities had to be constructed. Blood collections is regulated by the Food and Drug

Administration (FDA), which uses a policy of identifying at risk populations for outbreaks. To limit

the potential for spread, the FDA imposed new donor guidelines that significantly reduced the

donor base. The next few pages discuss specific cases and how they have had an impact to the

local landscape.

For the American Red Cross Biomedical Services, there are five national testing labs

that do a thorough screening process of all donations. Currently tests are done for ABO/Rh

determination, Antibody detection, Automated test for Syphilis, Antibody to HIV, Antibody to

Hepatitis B, Antibody to Hepatitis C, Antibody to Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus, West Nile

Virus, and many variants to these (American Red Cross 3). The facility that screens regionally is

located in Portland, near the airport, and usually receives a sample of all donated products within

24 hours of the actual donation. The cost to sample each donation is about $86, which pays for

the extensive lab training and expensive equipment with many of the individual testing machines

costing in excess of half a million dollars (Portland NTL).

15

HIV/ AIDSThe most public regulation change that has been made to blood drives has been in

reaction to HIV/ AIDS. With the outbreak of HIV in the mid-1980s, attention fell on the potential

high risk populations. One of the first populations that it hit was that of Homosexual males in

California, and with growing concerns about contamination of the blood supply the FDA made the

preventative move to permanently defer from donations men who have had sex with other men,

and temporarily defer women who have had sexual relations with these men. The concern was

that hemophiliacs require blood clotting solution derived from blood products and can be a

transmission point for HIV. An individual hemophiliac can receive blood products from up to

5,000 different donors through their lifetime, putting them at considerable risk of contracting any

viral infections (AVERT 4).

At a campus scale, these regulations have sparked a bit of controversy. Since colleges

are a forefront for equality and human rights, to exclude Gays has been taken as a sign of

discrimination. The FDA continues to monitor at risk populations, and stands with its deferral with

the note that if the population ceases being at risk the standards could be changed. They note

that testing has been implemented, but is not full proof (the test looks for anti-bodies that may not

be produced for several months after the point of infection).

At Oregon State, there has been concern and a grievance was posted to the University.

This was following suit with action that was taken at Southern Oregon University in Ashland,

where in 2003 blood drives were pushed off campus due to student concerns (A.P. 5). The

American Red Cross seeks to comply with FDA regulations, and in its very purpose must remain

neutral for its purpose as a humanitarian organization.

Changing Regulations16

Mad Cow DiseaseAnother infection that sparked concern with the blood supply was that of Creutzfeld-

Jacob Disease (CJD), more commonly known as Mad Cow disease. For CJD, the method of

transmitting is still not well understood and there is no evidence that it can be transmitted from

donors to patients through blood transfusions. Since there is a potential though, the following

restrictions were introduced;

You are not eligible to donate if:

• From January 1, 1980, through December 31, 1996, you spent (visited or lived) a cumulative time of 3 months or more, in the United Kingdom (UK)

• You spent (visited or lived) a cumulative time of 5 years or more from January 1, 1980, to present, in any combination of country(ies) in Europe(ARC 6)

The effect on campus was immediately seen when

the restrictions were implemented in 1997. According to the

territory representative at the time, Douglas Tracy, on the first day

they had to turn away 23 donors which was a significant percent

of the people who came to show. What mostly concerned Tracy

is that unlike most reasons people get turned away, this is a

permanent deferral- they won’t be allowed to donate in the

foreseeable future and most likely will go on to tell others not to

donate as well. Given OSU’s strength as an internationally

friendly University, there is a significant population on campus that

can’t donate because they were born in a certain country that had

risk of Mad Cow exposure that has been unproven to be

transmitted by blood donations.

Changing Regulations

Blood Products, ARC

17

Tattoos With the previous notes as to how far fewer people can donate, it is not to say every

population is continuing to be restricted. Regionally, about two years ago restrictions on

receiving tattoos changed. Due to the previously discussed risks with blood transfusions, there

is also a risk in sharing needles used for tattoos. Because of this, those who received tattoos

were considered to be an at-risk population for infection and were deferred from donating.

Changes in regulating procedures though have created a sterile working environment that is

trustworthy, and therefore tattoos given at licensed parlors now have no deferral.

On campus, education of the change is a slow process. Even though the restrictions

have changed, many people still do not know of the change. The stigma created by a restriction

can adversely effect donations for the foreseeable future, and as such an advertising campaign

has been started to get the word out. Overall, this has helped to bring in a new population of

donors, and offer students who enjoy donating the opportunity to now receive tattoos.

2008 Advertising Campaign, ARC

Changing Regulations18

Changing PracticesWith technology on the rise new opportunities have been provided to offer new options

and make life easier. This has been true for blood collections as well. For this landscape, it has

meant mobility and portability of setups in which entire network infrastructures can be setup at a

drive in just a matter of minutes.

The following pages discuss some of the processes that are currently being introduced

or expanded for the Oregon State blood drive. Firstly, the role of the Summer term blood drive,

its introduction, and the lessons learned. Then a look was taken at the ongoing process of

bringing appointments to a traditional drive that has no signups and lets people walk in. Finally,

the introduction of Double Red technology is taken a look at to give a sign at potential future

changes and considerations.

2002 Spring Blood Drive, The Daily Barometer

19

Another point worth noting is that not only are drives held on campus during the

standard academic year, but a drive is also held during the Summer term as well. The Summer

term drive started in 1995, and with two buses (goal of about 90 units a day) for just one or two

days represented a significantly smaller setup than what students were used to.

The smaller setup did have implications and notes that were taken into consideration

for the academic year. According to Douglas Tracy, the biggest note was that it represented a

paradigm shift for students and staff that moved away from accepting anyone who showed up to

a strict appointment system. This had to be implemented because at a smaller scale, large

unpredicted loads are much more difficult to handle. A large group of donors could come in and

push the wait back several hours. The drive also seems to attract a larger percentage of faculty

and staff donors. Also, the location change was taken difficultly as the smaller drive did not

need the Memorial Ballroom so it was placed outside in two buses. Students tended to not be

Summer Term Blood Drive

oriented to donating on a bus, which some

find to be more comfortable and others can

find claustrophobic.

2006 Summer Blood Drive at the MU Brick Courtyard, Scott Waggoner

Changing Practices20

Appointments versus Walk-insA key trait for the Oregon State drive has been the

implementation of a walk-in policy. The average blood drive tends to

have a goal of 30 units, and as seen at the Summer blood drive can be

heavily impacted by many walk-ins. With goals ranging in the 250

range, creating a signup system and allowing large groups to donate

together was a daunting task before computers and therefore was not

implemented.

With computer systems now available, and an increasingly

online oriented word, appointments were first tried in Spring of 2006.

Tim Lippert developed the system, in which a few appointment slots

were created for each 15 minute block of time that promised to get

people through faster by flagging them to volunteers managing the

control of traffic. This also allowed walk-ins to continue. Over time, the

appointment system was increasingly integrated such that in Spring of

2007 appointments outnumbered walk-ins. As can be seen on the right,

since the implementation of appointments goals have been either met or

exceeded at all but one drive. Process Improvement Engineer Ryan

Fergus with the Red Cross thinks that improved results are because it

helps to shift the load of students around and inform them of what times

are busiest, allowing a smoother flow for the entire drive. Processing

times went from around 2 to 3 hours to almost universally an hour or

under. Table 1.0, Percentage of goal achieved during the week of each drive. Red arrow shows where the introduction of appointments was.

Changing Practices

103%Winter

102%Fall

07-08

108%Spring

106%Winter

86%Fall

06-07

100%Spring

97%Winter

83%Fall

05-06

97%Spring

81%Winter

102%Fall

04-05

90%Spring

79%Winter

83%Fall

03-04

92%Spring

94%Winter

91%Fall

02-03

84%Spring

86%Winter

96%Fall

01-02

92%Spring

104%Winter

93%Fall

00-01

96%Spring

111%Winter

100%Fall

99-00

93%Spring

88%Winter

116%Fall

98-99

100%Spring

117%Winter

94%Fall

97-98

99%Spring

90%Winter

109%Fall

96-97

102%Spring

84%Winter

86%Fall

95-96

82%Spring

105%Winter

%

94-95

Double Red Cell DonationsA new technology that is currently being distributed and expanded is called ‘Double Red

Cell Donations’. Janice Hardy explains that this is different from a standard donation, in that it

collects only red blood cells and returns liquids such as plasma. Because a centrifuge is used to

layer out the cells, the process takes longer than a standard donation (about 45 minutes to collect

blood compared to the normal 15), however with the liquids being returned a donor is capable of

donating more blood without feeling the typical side effects of dehydration. Typically the

technicians are able to collect two units of blood from a single donor.

The double red machines are bulky, but portable, and typically are set up at large blood

drive. This is because if they are going to the time and effort of collecting more blood, they want

to try and make sure it is O-type blood that can be universally accepted and as such is in higher

demand. A larger donor base means that they have a better chance at selecting only O-type

donors, and as such the Oregon State drive has been a prime target for implementation. Double

red collections started at OSU in Spring of 2007 with four double red setups, and this past term

regional records were set as six double red setups were brought to campus (the greater Portland

area only has six setups total). The impact of double red has yet to

be determined for donors on campus, as with

double the donation comes double the wait until the

next chance they can donate. With OSU drives

being spaced out so people can donate at each,

this means that enthusiastic donors that tend to

bring friends will have to skip out on the next drive.

Eligibility for Double Red, ARC

Changing Practices22

Greater CommunityGoing into this project, one of the primary goals was to try and determine how the

campus landscape working with the blood drive is effected by the greater Corvallis community.

Douglas Tracy and Janice Hardy both gave their inputs, saying that essentially the OSU Drive is

a closed system. Few donors from the OSU Drive donate at greater community drives, and few

donors from the greater community want to challenge the students and parking hassles to come

on campus. Tracy noted that previously the greater community had a larger impact through

volunteering, as long time Red Cross volunteers would help run the drive. With the creation of

the Blood Drive Association though, this task would be redundant. Furthermore, large events

that typically bring in more donors (like 9/11) have had no apparent impact on campus. That fall

in particular had a goal raised in expectation of the increased donors which never showed.

Why not a fixed site?Another question that was brought up in terms of the greater community was that with

such high donation numbers why doesn’t the city of Corvallis have a permanent location for

donations. Given that just the OSU Drive brings in nearly 3,000 units a year, that would be the

potential of getting 250 units a month and nearly 8 units a day if a fixed site was set up on

campus. Douglas Tracy explained that while the region was considering it, he shot the idea

down. That is because the OSU Drive is more of a novelty like a circus. The blood drive comes

to town, sets up, and people only have to think about it for a few days a term. This helps prevent

poster blindness and keeps an event feel that brings people in with great numbers. It also helps

with sponsorship of the drive, as groups and businesses would only have to promote the drive for

a short time.

23

ConclusionThis project provided a wealth of information and perspectives that have provided much

to think about when looking into the future. Most notable is that current trends haven’t been

trends for very long, and factors such as appointments and the Civil War Blood Drive should

definitely be kept while other factors such as double red donations and the hours of the drive

needs to have an active eye to see where they go. Before this new millennium, it was a lot more

difficult to predict how things would perform and when would work best. Certainly having a

student voice has helped to provide direction that offer fellow students more options and give

them the information they need to make the experience fast and efficient for both them and the

staff.

In terms of drive operation times, it appears that the current hours and days work best

with student schedules in mind. However, that does not deny the fact that although a smaller

donor base would exist before and after the existing drive hours, the donor potential still exists.

Maintaining the size and scale of a drive this magnitude is hard to accomplish, so therefore it

might be in the best interest of all parties to have reduced staffing hours with lower expectations

at times before and after the drive, and potentially on Friday or the weekends as well.

Appointments have shown that the load of students can be distributed, and that students are

willing to adjust their schedule to purposely go to the blood drive instead of deciding the day of

the event to attend. This is needed given that student schedules place highest load when

classes get out.

In terms of changing regulations and procedures, it seems that communication and

education is the key needed to promote to the community. College is a time of learning and

students need the collaborative learning and discussing, or else situations can occur like at

24

ConclusionSouthern Oregon University. With the experience of Tattoos, stigmas can be hard to overcome

as well without effective lines of communication to the general public. Having a student group

can also be a way to get information sent through, as well as received from.

From talking with various Red Cross personnel, it seems that the current system is very

‘futurist’ in concept (a term Janice Hardy heard at a national convention). They are looking

forward to how to achieve goals, without considering lessons from the past usually due to that

data being considered irrelevant given new restrictions and processes. HIV/AIDS did have a

large impact on how things were run, however there has been a rich twenty years of history since

then that should not be ignored that portray the evolving systematic landscape we live in today.

25

Personal Communications• Tour of the Portland NTL, National Testing Lab Staff. Portland NTL. Thursday, February 21st.• Interview with Janice Hardy, Territory Representative for Corvallis/Albany. Salem Red Cross

Blood Services Site. Monday, March 3rd 2008.• Interview with Douglas Tracy, Retired/ Former Territory Representative. McMinnamins at

Monroe. Monday, March 10th 2008.• RE: Records Retrieval, Oregon State University (E-mail), Tim Lippert, Director of Donor

Recruitment. Sent Monday, March 10th 2008.

Citations26

Publications1. OSU to host blood drive, OSU News Service, November 1998.

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/1998/Nov98/bled.htm2. Meinig et al. The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes, Oxford University Press, 1979. Pg.

37.3. Introduction: National Testing Labs, American Red Cross.

http://www.redcross.org/services/biomed/0,1082,0_494_,00.html4. The history of AIDs up to 1986, AVERT. http://www.avert.org/his81_86.htm5. Oregon blood drive canceled over ineligibility of gay men, The Associated Press, May 19th

2003. http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=blooddrive19m&date=20030519

6. In-Depth Discussion of Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease (CJD) and Blood Donation, American Red Cross. http://www.redcross.org/services/biomed/blood/supply/CJDb.htmlPhotographs

Pg. 1, Blood Drive at OSU, ca 1952, OSU Archives. http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/archives/exhibits/sampler/p17_1915.html

Pg. 4, Hemosphere/ Mobile Sched Data, Data collected by Janice HardyPg. 9, BDA Logo, Scott Waggoner; 2005 BDA, Photo taken by Tim LippertPg. 11, Advertisements of past OSU Blood Drives, Scans taken with permission by OSU ArchivesPg. 12, Blood Drive is in need of Donors, The Daily Barometer

http://media.barometer.orst.edu/media/storage/paper854/news/2004/02/12/News/Blood.Drive.In.Need.Of.Donors-2298808.shtml

Pg. 14, 2005 Civil War Blood Drive Logo, Provided by the American Red CrossPg. 17, Blood Products, American Red Cross http://lewisandclark.redcross.org/blood/aboutblood.htmPg. 18, Posters for Tattoo Education, Provided by the American Red CrossPg. 19, Can You Spare Some Blood?, The Daily Barometer

http://media.barometer.orst.edu/media/storage/paper854/news/2002/02/14/News/Can-You.Spare.Some.Blood-2297506.shtml

Pg. 20, 2006 Summer Term Blood Drive, Scott WaggonerPg. 22, Double Red Eligibility, American Red Cross. http://www.my-

redcross.org/images/eligibilitychart_000.jpg