Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
COLFAX — Colfax Highschool hosted a blood drive on Wednesday, April 22, to complete the requirements to earn the STEM grant through Vitalant and the Blood Center Foundation.
Colfax Highschool must host and complete two blood drives to qualify for the $2000 STEM grant.
“It could have been better. We needed about 13 more donors to sign-up and about ten more successful blood donations. We had 23 scheduled donors and 25 donors presented to donate,” said Joseph Fairbanks, Senior Account Manager of Donor Recruitment for Vitalant.
Fairbanks reports that there were 21 successful donations yielding 25 successful units.
“Not everyone who wants to donate can. Sometimes low hemoglobin (iron), high blood pressure, high heart rate, travel restrictions, or even not feeling well will keep people from donating,” he noted.
Donors reported were students, faculty, parents, and community members.
“They all came together to support this event and to help the need we are facing in our local hospitals,” Fairbanks added.
Colfax Highschool must have 35 successful units for the second blood drive to qualify for the STEM Grant.
The second blood drive is scheduled for Wednesday, November 1, in the STEM lab.
Time slots for appointments are to be determined at a later date.
Vitalant partners with the Blood Center Foundation of the Inland Northwest every year to offer students grants and scholarships.
In 2022, Vitalant provided 28 STEM Grants.
The Student Leadership Scholarship Program is now open for anyone entering a trade school, college, university, or Grad school.
The scholarship ranges between $500 to $1000.
“We are giving back to the community, schools, and students. We know that being part of a community as a whole and helping each other is the best way to keep our communities strong, healthy, and safe,” he said.
“Right now, we are in severe need at our local hospitals. What does that mean? It means that we have less than a 2-day supply on the shelves. People should donate blood since it is the only way to have a blood supply. We can’t synthesize it or make it up in a lab. We need donors to come in and donate blood so our hospitals can have a healthy and safe supply for when it is needed,” he said.
Many people are eligible to donate, but roughly 3% donate, reports Vitalant.
Blood has a shelf life of six weeks, and Donors may only donate every eight weeks. Donors are recommended to donate every two months.
“That would be up to 6 times a year. The majority of the population only donates once/twice a year. If we could get donors to donate 2-3 times, maybe 3-4 times a year, it would majorly impact the supply,” said Fairbanks.
Vitalant is the sole provider for the local hospitals in Whitman County, reports say.
“Imagine someone you know who may be going in for cancer treatment receiving a call that they can’t be helped that day due to the lack of blood. Or if you were scheduled for surgery and the hospital calls the day off and cancels due to short supply,” noted Fairbanks, “Our hospitals and doctors are going to have to make the difficult decision and may need to cancel surgeries. If we were to have an accident, we might not have enough for the patients. That is a scary thought.”
Eight more blood drives are planned around the county over the next three months through Vitalant.
The upcoming blood drives are open to everyone, and people are encouraged to donate.
The next blood drive will be on Friday, April 7. Below are the planned blood drives happening in the county.
Friday, April 7 - Pullman Regional
Wednesday, April 26 - City of Pullman
Tuesday, April 28 - WHMC in Health Plex A “Education Room”
Wednesday, May 17 - WCL in the Center
Wednesday, June 7 - LaCrosse Community
Saturday, June 10 - Albion Community
Saturday, June 17 - St. John Community
Friday, June 23 - WHMC
Vitalant offers several types of donations, including whole blood, power red, platelet, and plasma.
Whole blood donations can be from any blood type.
People may donate whole blood every 56 days up to 6 times yearly.
Whole blood donations often aid in trauma and surgery patients.
Power red donations are recommended for anyone with O-, O+, A-, and B- blood types.
Patients can donate every 112 days up to 3 times a year.
This donation often helps pediatric patients, trauma or surgery patients, sickle cell patients, and people with anemia.
Platelet donations are recommended for anyone with A+, A-, B+, B-, AB+, and AB- blood types and can be made every seven days and up to 24 times a year.
This donation assists cancer patients, people with blood disorders, open-heart surgeries, and organ transplants.
Lastly, plasma donations are recommended for anyone with AB+ and AB- blood types.
Plasma donations can be made every 28 days and up to 13 times a year.
Plasma donations greatly help patients in shock, severe burns, or clotting disorders.
To get more information on blood donations and donating, go to Vitalant.org or contact Joe Fairbanks at jfairbanks@vitalant.org.
Olivia Harnack is a Journalist at the Whitman County Gazette. Olivia is enrolled at University of Idaho and is majoring in digital film studies. She serves in the United States Army National Guard and is proud to serve Whitman County.
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