There is always a need for blood donations. Get your school or community involved by running a drive of your own. Here are the deets on how!
- Partner with a local Blood Bank. Call up a chapter of the American Red Cross, United Blood Services, or a local organization and tell them you are interested in organizing a blood drive in your community.
- Find a place. Try a busy area in your neighborhood like a place of worship, fire station, hotel ballroom, restaurant banquet hall, mall, or the local community center.
- Pick a date and time. Does it work for the location? Make sure to check that there are nurses and equipment available from the Blood Bank / Blood Center on that day.
- Tell your donors that they must meet the requirements to give blood. For example, you can give blood at age 17 or older nationwide, but only certain states allow 16-year-olds to donate. Donors under 19 years of age must also meet certain height and weight requirements. If you are hosting a drive in a diverse area, think about providing volunteer translators for those that will need this instruction in another language.
- Promote the drive. After planning all this, you will probably receive posters, brochures, and pledge cards from the blood service. Educate your team of volunteers and get to work.
- Put up posters of your event at cafes, libraries, parks, malls, and in school hallways, but always remember to ask proper authority for permission.
- Let people know online with sites like Facebook or Twitter.
- Most blood services have webpages where blood drives are posted, so make sure yours is included!
- Schedule Appointments. Have a method of scheduling appointments based on how many people contact you for a specific time slot. Get the donors’ phone numbers so you can remind them shortly before the event.
- On the day of the event- Greet your volunteers and go over the schedule. Post arrows and posters telling people where to go:
- Donors come into the location and fill out a mini medical history.
- Donors meet with a nurse who checks your health and takes a blood sample.
- Donors go to the donation area and a registered nurse starts to collect blood with a new, sterile, disposable, and used only once needle (this process takes about 10-12 minutes).
- After the donation, provide donors a sitting area and provide drinks and snacks!
Tell us what you're doing. GO
SOURCES: The Red Cross and United Blood Services.
