ASCSU’s blood drive events focus on awareness, giving back

Alex+Silverhart%2C+ASCSU+Director+of+Health+and+Wellness%2C+and+Amber+Wright%2C+a+member+of+the+ASCSU+Supreme+Court%2C+sit+ready+to+check+blood+donors+in+at+the+blood+drive+they+helped+to+organize+in+collaboration+with+PreMedica+Club+at+the+Lory+Student+Center+Theatre

Collegian | Sara Shaver

Alex Silverhart, ASCSU Director of Health and Wellness, and Amber Wright, a member of the ASCSU Supreme Court, sit ready to check blood donors in at the blood drive they helped to organize in collaboration with PreMedica Club at the Lory Student Center Theatre Jan. 31.

Allie Seibel, News Director

The Associated Students of Colorado State University organizes blood drive events throughout the academic year for students and faculty to donate and help with the global blood shortage.

“With COVID, no one was wanting to see anybody, especially in as intimate (of a) setting as a blood drive — where there’s people all around you testing your blood, taking your blood, making sure you’re not going to faint,” ASCSU Director of Health and Wellness Alex Silverhart said. “So with COVID, those kind of disappeared on campus. And I feel like with the campus of 30,000 students, there’s a real need for having blood drives.”

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ASCSU held a special vampire-themed Halloween blood drive Oct. 31 and another Jan. 31, both of which garnered around 30 donors and 24 pints of blood, according to ASCSU Supreme Court Associate Justice Amber Wright, who is in charge of donor outreach and communication.

“(The blood drives) try to benefit patients in Colorado because all the blood that is donated goes to local hospitals, which is a great way of being able to help people because it takes about an hour to donate blood from check-in to when you’re able to leave the snack area,” Wright said. “And within an hour, your blood can possibly go to and help three different people.”

ASCSU partners with Vitalant for the events, and Silverhart said his future goals for the blood drives include continuing to increase accessibility for students on campus to donate.

“I know that some people are nervous about donating blood, which is certainly a valid fear; it can be a scary process for some people. So to the people who are a bit nervous about donating blood, I would say, one, it’s worth it. And two, it’s not nearly as scary as it seems. I just say, ‘Just a quick 10 minutes in the chair,’ and you’ve helped up to three people.” -Amber Wright, ASCSU Supreme Court associate justice

“I’ve looked and seen what’s in Fort Collins, and there isn’t a blood center around or in the city,” Silverhart said. “I know UCHealth has one, kind of, but just it’s not accessible to students on campus. Students want things close by and easy to do. Providing that for students, I think, is huge.”

Fort Collins does have a dedicated blood donation center, located about one mile east of campus at 1025 Pennock Place, near the intersection of Lemay Avenue and East Elizabeth Street. The UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Center is open six days a week, and appointments can be scheduled online.

According to Wright, donating blood for the first time is a common source of anxiety, but she said most students are pleasantly surprised by how minimally disruptive the donation process is.

“I know that some people are nervous about donating blood, which is certainly a valid fear; it can be a scary process for some people,” Wright said. “So to the people who are a bit nervous about donating blood, I would say, one, it’s worth it. And two, it’s not nearly as scary as it seems. I just say, ‘Just a quick 10 minutes in the chair,’ and you’ve helped up to three people.”

Wright also said students enjoy finding out their blood type and other health information while donating blood.

“(Donors) get to find out their blood type, iron level, cholesterol level and various health information like that,” Wright said. “A lot of people don’t know their blood type, so donating (at) one of our blood drives is a great way to find out.”

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Silverhart said that his experience with donating blood is enhanced and changed by the regulations surrounding blood donation in the LGBTQ+ community.

“Identifying as a member of the LGBT community, there are certain restrictions placed on donors for a ton of different reasons,” Silverhart said. “There’s restrictions based on travel, there’s restrictions based upon the drug usage and things like that. But there’s also a restriction placed on MSM — men who have sex with men. And if a man has had sex with another man in the past three months, they cannot donate their blood.”

Silverhart said that since the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, regulations have prevented sexually active gay men from donating blood within 12 months of having sex. Following the blood shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that limit was decreased to three months. Donated blood, regardless of the sexual orientation of the donator, is tested for HIV, syphilis and other bloodborne diseases.

“A part of the reason why I organize blood drives is because I can’t donate blood anymore,” Silverhart said. “And I remember that moment in high school, where it was like I was planning my last blood drive, and I (have) kind of gotten a little more understanding of what this deferral meant for people like me, for people in the LGBT community, and it made me extremely sad because I was like, ‘I’m out here and planning these drives and giving it all I got.’ And in the end, I can’t even donate blood because of this kind of homophobic restriction.”

Silverhart said ASCSU hopes to present a resolution statement on the standing of the blood donation regulations. He hopes the resolution will be sent to the Food and Drug Administration, encouraging them to publish a study they are conducting that could potentially overturn the three month regulation.

“Gay blood is not bad blood,” Silverhart said. “And I think people have a hard time breaking away from the stigma, especially when it comes towards things like the HIV epidemic.”

ASCSU is planning two more blood drives this academic year: one March 27 and one May 3.

“I would say that it’s an excellent and low-effort way of helping the community,” Wright said. “I encourage everyone to donate if they can.”

Reach Allie Seibel at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @allie_seibel_

Editor’s Note: This article was updated Feb. 9 to clarify that Fort Collins does have a blood center.