Kaelin MaGrath, a 21-year-old UF health science senior, said she has donated blood on campus once a year for the past three years.
“The experience has been great,” MaGrath said. “The employees showed their appreciation and gratitude for donating. They also made sure that I was in good shape before I left.”
Gainesville is now facing a blood shortage and MaGrath's contributions are needed more than ever.
LifeSouth Community Blood Centers has issued an emergency need for all blood types. The blood bank has received orders for every blood type, except Type AB, that it cannot supply, said LifeSouth Community Development Coordinator Laura Bialeck.
“You don’t normally see that we’re back-ordered O-positive blood, which is one of the most common blood types, but we are,” Bialeck said.
LifeSouth has back-ordered 38 units of red-blood cells from UF Health Shands Hospital, said Bialeck.
Before donating, every person gets a “mini physical” to check blood pressure, temperature, iron levels and cholesterol, and they receive a free LifeSouth T-shirt afterward.
Bialeck said common misconceptions often heard from students on campus are that they cannot donate because they have a tattoo or they have to wait for a 12-month period after getting a tattoo before donating.
“A lot of people think that they can’t donate blood when they actually can,” Bialeck said. “I would encourage people, just because they think they can’t donate, to definitely stop at the bloodmobile or ask one of us, because they may be able to.”
A LifeSouth blood mobile sits outside of the Publix at the West Gate Shopping Center. “Emergency need” signs have been added to all of their blood mobiles during the summer. Photo by Joseph Salvador
