Your Guide to Organizing a Successful Blood Drive Located at Altru Hospital 1200 Sout Columbia Road Grand Forks, ND 58201
Introduction On bealf of te patients wo will benefit from your efforts, te Dak Minn Blood Bank staff tanks you for your commitment to organize your blood drive and/or act as your organizations cairperson for te Blood Donor Program. Blood is a vital resource, wic cannot be manufactured. Only people can supply blood, so patients depend on te success of your efforts. Your blood drive plays a very important role by elping our community maintain a safe and adequate blood supply. Our community depends on te generosity of its ealty residents wo voluntarily donate blood at area blood drives and in our donor center. Sponsoring a blood drive requires teamwork and organization. It also produces a meaningful community service activity in wic you play a leading role. Dak-Minn Blood Bank and Altru Healt System tank you for seeking to find a way to serve your community and save lives. 2
Sponsoring an In-House Blood Drive An In-House Blood Drive is ideal for businesses: Wo do not ave a large room to accommodate a mobile blood drive. Wo are unable to guarantee a minimum of 45 donors. Wo ave rotating sifts, making it difficult for all employees to participate. Wen you sponsor an In-House blood drive: Donations are given at te Dak-Minn Blood Bank, Located at Altru Hospital. Blood Drives can be sceduled any time during our regular operating ours of Mon.- Turs. 9:30am - 6:00pm and Fri. 9 am 2 p.m. Your blood drive can go for as many days or weeks as you wis. You do not need to guarantee a minimum number of donors. You are not responsible for providing any equipment. Blood drives can be booked as little as 1 week in advance. How will your business or organization keep track of wo as donated? Individuals tat try to donate blood will receive a card from te blood bank verifying te donor s name, date and time tey came to donate. Wat you need to do to get started. Talk to te people involved in your business or organization. Decide upon a date for te blood drive and ow many days you would like your blood drive to last. Consult te blood drive coordinator at te blood bank before picking a date. Many times, tere are promotions being eld at te blood bank. By sceduling your blood drive during teses times, it gives te donors an added incentive to come and donate. Coose a contact person tat will work wit te blood drive coordinator. Decide wo will collect te verification cards from tose persons wo ave come to donate. Tese cards will be te only way for you to keep track of tose individuals wo gave blood. As volunteer blood donations are anonymous and confidential, te blood bank can not give you a list of names of people wo ave donated. Tis information must come from te donors temselves. Te verification cards are a way to verify tat te donor actually went to te blood bank and tried to give blood. Pick up posters and oter recruitment items from te Dak-Minn Blood Bank. All posters and flyers are provided at no cost to your business or organization. If you would like personalized flyers made, allow 2-3 weeks for printing. 3
Sponsoring a Mobile Blood Drive A Mobile Blood Drive is ideal for businesses: Wo ave a large room to accommodate a mobile blood drive. Wo are able to guarantee a minimum of 45 donors. Wen you sponsor a Mobile Blood Drive: Te blood back comes to you. Blood Drives can be sceduled Mon.- Turs. 9 am - 3pm or 10 am-4 p.m. Builds cooperative spirit among donors tat can be carried to oter projects. Boosts morale as donors feel goodwill and accomplisment. Wat you need to do to get started: Contact te Dak-Minn blood bank for a blood drive date and time. Dates fill up quickly during te spring and fall so book your date at least 8-12 weeks aead of time. For mobile drives pick a convenient location for your blood drive. Te room you coose sould be L A R G E, well ventilated wit multiple plug-ins and good ligting. Plan all promotional ideas and advertisement at tis time. Te blood bank as preprinted posters available to you at no carge. Make a list of previous and potential donors. Include pone number and address if available. Hang posters and general information seets in visible, ig traffic areas. Include te blood drive date, times, location (including a room number, if needed). Include a contact person's name and pone number were interested donors can call to scedule appointment times. In-ouse blood drive participants call 780-LIFE (5433) to scedule an appointment. Begin your recruitment. Tere are a variety of ways you can recruit donors. Your planning committee sould decide wic way is best for you. (See page 9 for ideas.) Set up te room for te blood drive. Please ave all tables, cairs and wastebaskets set up and ready to go one our before te blood drive begins. Have tose volunteers elping wit set-up meet at te blood drive location 1 our before te start time to elp unload equipment. Have tose persons working te reception desk arrive 1/2 our before te blood drive begins for instructions. Have te crew volunteering for clean-up come to te blood drive location at te end of te blood drive. 4
Mobile Blood Drive Room Requirements LARGE ROOM (minimum of 25 x 60 ) It is important tat we ave enoug room for all te equipment and to allow privacy during donor screening. Confidentiality is essential. If te room is too small, people can over ear te donors' answers to te medical istory questions. Tis may cause a donor to answer te questions untrutfully and jeopardize te safety of te blood. Te larger te room te better. Good ligting Well ventilated Multiple electrical outlets Ground floor or access to an elevator. Avoid stairs if at all possible. Blood drive equipment must be moved by and and is extremely eavy! Batrooms sould be close by and on te same floor as te blood drive. Water source close by. Water is needed for donor reactions and clean-up. A nearby pone for emergencies. Supplies sponsors provide 12 six foot tables or 6 six foot tables and 6 smaller ones. 20-30 cairs 5 wastebaskets Sample Room Arrangement refresments no cairs donor drawing no cairs donor drawing no cairs refresments 8 cairs donor drawing no cairs waiting area 10 cairs reception 4 cairs door screening 2 cairs screening 2 cairs screening 2 cairs 5
Volunteer Cecklist Committee # of people Duties Planning committee 4-6 Organize blood drive date, location, advertisement, promotional materials and public service announcements Compile recruitment calling lists Recruitment 5-8 See Page 9 for ideas Blood drive set-up 3-4 Set up te room before blood drive staff arrives Remove unnecessary equipment, set up table and cairs Meet our blood drive staff at te entrance designated for unloading 1 our before te drive is sceduled to start Reception/registration 1-2 Provide donors wit reading and registration materials Arrive at blood drive location at least ½ our before te start of te drive Transporter 1-2 Someone is needed to run blood to te blood bank at least once during te blood drive. Only needed for blood drive being eld in Grand Forks and surrounding area (Tompson, GFAFB) Tear-down/clean-up 3-4 Help take down equipment and straigten te room. Meet te blood bank staff in te room at te time te drive is sceduled to end 6
Blood Drive Promotion Altoug Dak-Minn Blood Bank can provide you wit an assortment of publicity materials, te best publicity involves people. Here s a brief listing of ideas to elp you get started on your campaign: Ideas, Ideas, Ideas Insert an article into your organization s newsletter wit details of te upcoming blood drive. Use personal stories. Find someone wo received blood (Over 70% of us do in our lifetime) and ask if tey would sare teir story. Take Polaroid potos of donors giving blood. Ten post tem in ig traffic areas to encourage oters to donate. Use a Bring Buddy teme for a first-time donor campaign were regular donors bring potential first-time donors. Have a sign-up table outside your cafeteria a few days before te blood drive. Tis will draw attention to te blood donor program and also provide you wit te opportunity to answer questions and promote person-to-person recruitment. Hand out candy at sign-up tables before te blood drive, along wit little notes: Roll Up Your Sleeve (Tootsie Rolls), Let s Pull Togeter (Taffy), We re Sweet on Blood Donors (Cocolate Kisses), or Save a Life-Donate Blood (LifeSavers). Food really seems to grab people s attention. Use temes! Holiday, seasonal or oterwise! Tey can be carried troug on fliers, posters, decorations and food. Draw a blood barometer to indicate number of donors signed-up. Or ave a tree of life wit donors names tied on. Announce te blood drive at all supervisor/management meetings. Gain support from individuals wo are not medically able to donate. Ask tem to bake desserts for refresment area, put up posters, or elp wit recruiting donors. Write a tank you article for your organization s newsletter and include names/pictures of donors and volunteers. Place posters in ig visibility areas. Notify local radio/tv stations and newspapers informing tem of te blood drive and invite tem to cover te event. Develop payceck stuffers to promote your blood drive. 7
Recruiting te First-Time Donor To meet te increasing need for blood and blood products, we must continually recruit tousands of first time donors every year. Here are a few tips tat migt elp you: 1. People do not know wat to expect wen tey initially give blood. Communicate te steps in te donation process: interview, donation and refresments. Let tem know tat donating blood is quick, safe and simple. 2. People are afraid of pain. Communicate tat most donors feel no discomfort at all. Te needle prick tey will feel is like a pinc and lasts only a few seconds. Most donors leave wit a good feeling inside. 3. People are fearful tat donating or te sigt of blood will make tem dizzy. Avoid communicating tese types of negative reactions. Focus on te good feelings, and positive outcome of donating. Empasize tat giving blood as no ill effects on te donor s ealt. Researc sows tat te major reasons people give blood are: 1. Awareness-Community Need 2. Convenient opportunity 3. Response to a blood supply emergency 4. Replacement for a friend or relative 5. Donor Benefits 6. Encouragement from someone tey know. 4. Stress te continuous need for blood donors. Blood must be available every day for patients wo need it. Blood is perisable and must be used witin 42 days. Oter blood products must be used witin 5 days. Empasize te vital need for people to donate on a regular basis in order to maintain an adequate blood supply in our community. 5. Some people tink giving blood is inconvenient and time consuming. Empasize tat advance appointments allow donating blood to be convenient, and tat te entire donation process takes less tan an our. Major reasons people do not give blood are: 1. No one ever asked 2. No convenient opportunity 3. Concerned wit discomfort 4. Fear of needles 5. Unaware tere is a need 8
Recruitment Tecniques As stated before, one-to-one contact between recruiter and prospective donor is te key to success. Tink about it tis way. Asking someone to give blood means asking tat person to take an our of teir time to donate a pint of blood to patients in need. A poster can t convince someone tat teir donation is important only anoter person can do tat. Remember: blood donation is a very personal commitment. Te following four-step tecnique as proven to be very successful. Some individuals may be easier to recruit tan oters may, so it may not be necessary to follow eac step wit every potential donor. Inform 1. Inform te donor of te daily need for blood in our community. 2. Utilize brocures and oter printed materials to assure te individual te donation experience is safe and virtually painless. Help te person realize wy any appreensions are unfounded. 3. Base your conversation on te fact tat te blood donor center does not need blood. patients do. Invite 1. After potential donors are informed, invite tem to give blood. 2. Consider te individual s emotions and attitudes. If you notice any esitation, ask if e or se as a question or is uncomfortable about te tougt of donating blood. 3. Deal wit fear. Non-donors are often afraid te procedure will urt. Of course tese fears are unfounded but tey are very real to te first-time donor. 4. Be entusiastic! A prospective donor s entusiasm is directly related to your own entusiasm. 5. Be prepared to answer te more common questions on medical requirements, and refer more complicated questions to te Dak-Minn Blood Bank staff. Leave printed information wit tose people wo are not yet ready to sign up. Commit 1. Ask te prospective donor to make a donation appointment. 2. Ask for time preference and confirm te appointment. Remind 1. People are more likely to onor teir commitment if tey are reminded sortly before te blood drive. Distribute appointment reminder cards and follow up on te prospects tat required time to decide. 2. Remind donors to eat a good meal witin four ours of teir sceduled donation time. Encourage tem to drink extra non-alcoolic fluids as well. 9
Sceduling Donors Muc of your blood drive s success will depend on te timetable you establis for te drive itself and te individual donors. Tese guidelines sould elp: Te benefits of sceduling donors: Saves donors time away from work/scool Allows te blood center to plan for adequate mobile staffing and supplies Permits optimum follow-up care of donors Reduces te number of no-sows Gives you te opportunity to increase donor turn-out Increases te overall efficiency of te blood drive Helpful ints for sceduling donors: Make sure eac donor is aware tat it takes approximately 45 minutes from registration to te end of te donation process. Sign up all donors on te sceduling seet tat te Donor Center representative gives you. Tis scedule must be sent to te Donor Center te day prior to your drive. Tis will enable us to insure sufficient supplies. Empasize te importance of every donor being on time. Tis will alleviate te frustration of backlogs. If possible, plan to stop by te drive periodically trougout te day to assure tat everyting is running smootly. Your Donor Center representative may ask tat you scedule a lunc break for te blood drive staff. Tis lunc break sould be reflected on te donor scedule wen it is provided to you. Please complete te sign up seet by filling up one time slot before moving to te next. Tis will assure a constant flow of donors. 10
Recognition Tanking your donors for taking te time to give blood is crucial for te success of your blood drives. Below are some ideas and suggestions on ow to do just tat. Some of tese creative ideas came from cairpersons tat continue to sponsor very successful blood drives. Te Blood you gave away will wipe a tear away. Printed on a box of tissues. You ve given JOY printed on a bottle of Joy Diswasing Detergent. Tank you for putting te zip back in someone s life printed on a box of Zip Lock Bags. Tank you for ligting up someone s life printed on a card attaced to a candle You re a life-saver Printed on a card attaced to a pack of lifesavers Judene Miller and Vickie Bair of te Pfaltzgraff Co sared tese ideas. Tank you for saring your great ideas! Oter Ideas to tank your donors: Personal Tank you from cairperson Personalized tank you cards Coupon for free ice cream cone, soda or salad etc. in your cafeteria Someone from administration personally tanking some of te donors as tey give Have members of your organization make omemade goodies for te donors Most of all HAVE FUN! If te donors enjoy temselves and feel appreciated, tey ll come back! A rule of tumb to follow: if te item as a retail value of less tan $10, is offered to all donors tat present to give blood and tere is no resale market for te item, it is most likely an acceptable token of tanks. Please call Dak-Minn Blood Bank wit any questions tat you may ave about any gift you would like to give away! Ideas, Ideas, Ideas Publis an Honor Roll after te blood drive listing te names of all tose wo participated in te drive. (Donors, deferrals and volunteers) Display te list in a igly visible area. Issue a release wit te names of first time donors, gallon donors, and multi-gallon donors in your company newsletter. Give special awards to tose departments tat ave te igest percentage of its members donating. Pass a tropy to te department wit te greatest participation and let tem keep it until te next drive wen anoter department migt take te lead. Tis makes it fun and may spark a competitive urge to participate. A prize drawing among your donors for a special gift. (Donors and deferred donors must bot be included in prize drawing.) Be Creative. Make your donors feel appreciated. It doesn t ave to be costly, just sincere. 11
Task Cecklist Prior To Blood Drive Is your room LARGE, well ventilated, WELL LIT and does it ave multiple electrical outlets? Is an elevator or ramp available? Are te batrooms on te same floor as te blood drive? Is tere a close source of water? Did you make a list of possible people to call, including previous donors, members or employees tat may be interested? Did you ang posters in ig traffic, visible areas 2 weeks before te blood drive? Did you include te name of a contact person and a pone number were interested donors can call to make appointments? Have you organized your team of people to elp recruit donors and sign donors for appointment times? Have you contacted your blood bank representative to update tem as to your progress and to get appointment and blood drive reminder cards if needed? Have you arranged for tables, cairs and wastebaskets to be available te day of te blood drive? Have you organized your team of people to work te day of te blood drive 3-4 people 1 our before blood drive for set. 2 people available trougout te blood drive for registration and canteen. Tis can be broken into different sifts. It does not need to be te same 2 people all day. 3-4 people after te blood drive to elp tear down. Day Of Blood Drive Are te tables, cairs and wastebaskets set up? Are batrooms unlocked? Is a pone available for emergencies? Are volunteer workers assembled and ready to go? Have signs been ung sowing were to give blood? 12