NIC donors bolster local blood supply
North Idaho College engineering student Hang Wiggins rests in Vitalant’s mobile blood donation bus after giving blood on Jan. 25 at NIC’s main campus in Coeur d’Alene. Photo courtesy of Elli Oba/North Idaho College
The North Idaho College Student Nursing Association partnered with Vitalant, a national nonprofit blood service provider, to host a blood drive on Jan. 25 at NIC’s main campus in Coeur d’Alene. More than two dozen donors gave blood in the mobile blood donation bus and provided enough blood to benefit more than 80 patients. Photo courtesy of Elli Oba/North Idaho College
The North Idaho College community is doing its part to help replenish blood bank inventories affected by a national blood shortage that has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NIC Student Nursing Association hosted a blood drive last Tuesday in a mobile blood donation bus on NIC’s main campus in Coeur d’Alene. The blood drive was held in partnership with Vitalant, one of the largest independent, nonprofit blood service providers in the U.S.
“Blood centers across the country are reporting less than a one-day’s supply of blood — a dangerously low level,” according to a Dec. 13, 2021, joint statement from the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies, America’s Blood Centers and the American Red Cross. “If the nation’s blood supply does not stabilize soon, life-saving blood may not be available for some patients when it’s needed.”
NIC’s first blood drive of 2022 helped build local supply with 29 donors participating, including 13 newcomers to the Vitalant system, according to Vitalant Blood Center Coordinator Audrey Hermann, who helped organize Tuesday’s blood drive on campus.
Tuesday’s donors gave enough blood to benefit up to 81 members of the community, and the drive also brought in four “double red” donations, which can be used for pediatric patients, trauma or surgery patients or patients with anemia, according to Hermann.
“It was a great drive, and many of the faculty and students were glad to see us back on campus and to participate in such a critical community event,” Hermann said.
Hang Wiggins, an NIC engineering student who donated blood on Tuesday, said she donates blood several times a year in service to her community, and even recruited her boyfriend to give his first blood donation at Tuesday’s drive.
“I know blood is very scarce right now, so especially with the situation we’re in with COVID, it can help save someone’s life,” Wiggins said.
The event benefits both the community and NIC students, said NIC Nursing Assistant Professor and NIC Student Nursing Association faculty advisor Sharon Funkhouser.
“Participating in the blood drive is so incredibly important on multiple levels,” Funkhouser said. “For the students who have stepped up to run the drive, learning the skills necessary to coordinate with outside organizations, as well as working within the constraints of the hosting location, will continue with them long-term because they will be able to pull from these experiences in future employment opportunities.”
Kaylie Higbee, a first-year NIC nursing student, said she donated blood for the first time on Tuesday after hearing about the drive in her nursing classes.
She said it was a good experience for her as a future nurse.
“It gives you more compassion when you’re on the other side, because you’ll know what your patients are going through,” Higbee said.
Funkhouser said NIC Student Nursing Association members hope to continue hosting regular blood drives after a hiatus during the pandemic in order to help fulfill the community and national need for blood donations.
