Wait time was unexpectedly long at Cal State Long Beach’s American Red Cross Blood Drive on Wednesday because most of the handheld devices necessary to process donor information were not working.
On Tuesday, the first day of the blood drive, everything went “smoothly,” team supervisor and registered nurse Alicia Rosado said.
The “handhelds” are used to submit donor information, such as blood type information, to the master database of the American Red Cross, Rosado said. There were 18 handhelds, but only four were working for the first two hours of the blood drive, Rosado said.
This delayed staff because they had to share the few handhelds that were working, Rosado said.
This held up “donor flow” and “agitated quite a few of the students,” vice president of the American Red Cross at CSULB and kinesiology junior Alexis Camacho said. Rosado said when she explained the technical difficulties, many donors understood the situation and were willing to wait.
While the handhelds were being fixed, the blood drive staff was instructed to take their breaks early so that they would be available when the handhelds were ready, Rosado said. Staff kept busy during this time by preparing for the donors so that “things would run smoothly once the problem was fixed,” Rosado said.
Volunteers at the blood drive had to stop taking walk-ins for about an hour so that the nurses could handle the backup of donors, Camacho said.
Rosado said that the reception for the handhelds was blocked and that they worked with their information technology team over the phone to fix the problem. By the end of the donation period, 15 of the 18 handhelds were working, Rosado said.
Camacho said the club had a goal of 90 donors each day of the blood drive. The blood drive had 115 donors on Tuesday and 92 donors on Wednesday, she said.
“We did end up losing quite a few donors because of the wait, but there’s always more walk-ins,” Camacho said.
The bulk of CSULB’s donations come from walk-ins, Camacho said. Sophomore healthcare administration major Amanda Carlin said she did not mind the long wait because, regardless, she wanted to donate.
“People should donate because they could be the difference from saving a life one day,” Carlin said.
Carlin said she makes a point to donate at least once a year because she feels helpful when she does it.
Freshman nutrition major Peter Kurrell said he donated twice before because he feels it is his “duty”.
“For the most part, we’re all relatively young and healthy [at CSULB], so there’s no reason not to, really,” Kurrell said.
The American Red Cross at CSULB hosts blood drives on campus once a semester, Camacho said. As vice president of the organization on campus, Camacho said she is in charge of organizing and overseeing the blood drives.
“Donating is one of the easiest ways to give back to the community,” Camacho said. “Just one pint of a donor’s blood can save three lives.”