On February 27, Psi Chi held their annual blood drive in DeWitt, partnering with the Red Cross, to engage the Lasell community to donate blood, which helps with potential life-saving situations nationally.
Psi Chi president and senior psychology major Lauren Pelletier says the main goal with the blood drive is to give back to people who need it, “Nationally there is a blood shortage. People who are cancer patients, people in need of blood transfusions, and victims of severe accidents need blood. We really want to just do good for as many people as we can” she said.
Senior psychology major and secretary of Psi Chi, Ashley Gochinski shares her personal experiences with peers that she has seen during the blood drive, “Through the blood drive. I met many new faces on campus and I really got to know a lot of them personally about why they're donating blood and if they've ever done it before and some people had.”
Gochinski continues, “Some shared their stories to me about why they donate blood or why are they doing this for the first time. It really is just a way to connect everyone as well as have it be for a good cause.”
Pelletier started planning annual event with the Red Cross in the fall. As planning started, choosing a spot and details was months worth of work, “I’m just glad to finally see it come to fruition. I worked with the Red Cross last year to organize the blood drive, and they're always super great. They're very hands-on, they're very helpful, and they're there to help with anything that we might need” Pelletier said.
The Red Cross team
lead collection specialist, Heather Lanigan has been with the organization for seventeen years and says their collection efforts stretch far beyond just blood, “As soon as this blood hits that bag and leaves here, it becomes a medication. We have a machine here today, we only collect red blood cells. Red cells are very important and the reason is because if there is some sort of trauma, if somebody has lost a lot of blood, they need to get those red blood cells in them because it carries oxygen back to the brain” Lanigan said.
Pelletier hopes that after she graduates, Psi Chi will continue to host the blood drive annually for years to come.
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