Long Beach City College’s Liberal Arts campus held its first blood drive of the 2023 spring semester with the Red Cross on Mar. 7, with students lined up to donate blood and help the community.
The blood drive will continue on Mar. 8 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. behind LAC building A in the Red Cross bus.
Students have the option between multiple methods of donation. One method is a standard blood donation where a full pint of blood is drawn from the donor.
The other donation option is a Power Red donation, which collects red blood cells and returns most of the plasma and platelets to the donor. This type of donation can only be done by those with A negative, B negative or O blood.
Red Cross nurse Gillian Lattatorres said, “we serviced between 20 and 25 people today, but everyday is different.”
The bus holds 4 patients at a time and people were waiting outside for their turn to board and donate.
Alexander Vega chose to do the Power Red donation where he donated blood and also received back most of his plasma and platelets.
Marielsy Centeno was intrigued by the newsletter sent out earlier this week by the college and decided to come and give blood for the first time.
“I always wanted to do it in high school but I think I was always underweight and too small to do it,” said Centeno, “I also saw it as a good opportunity to see what blood type I am for when I donate in the future.”
Students can sign up to donate by going to the American Red Cross website and entering the sponsor code “LBCCC” under the find drive tab. Walk-ins are accepted as well, however appointments take precedent.
Donating blood can help save someone’s life as well as bring health benefits to the one donating such as lowered blood pressure, lower risk of developing cancer and lowered risk of heart attacks.
The Red Cross will continue to visit LBCC campuses throughout the spring semester.