[17543] in APO News
Blood Drive at MIT... 2/24 - 28; Coronavirus guidelines
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Blood Drive Coordinators)
Sun Feb 9 20:26:22 2020
Date: Sun, 09 Feb 2020 20:26:18 -0500
From: Blood Drive Coordinators <blood-drive-coordinators@mit.edu>
To: Blood Drive Announcements <blood-drive-request@MIT.EDU>
Subject: Blood Drive at MIT... 2/24 - 28; Coronavirus guidelines
Executive Summary: MIT will be holding a blood drive from Monday 2/24
through Friday, 2/28. As usual, the drive will be held in La Sala in
the Student Center. The drive will run from 8pm to 6pm every day
except Tuesday, when it will run 8am-1pm. The Red Cross is asking
donors who have been to China, Hong Kong, or Macau not donate until 28
days after their return to the US.
For faster service make an appointment now
(https://web.mit.edu/blood-drive/www/) and then use RapidPass
(https://www.redcrossblood.org/rapidpass) on the day of the drive.
We also need volunteers for the drive, sign up at
https://tinyurl.com/MITDrive220
Hello,
MIT will be holding a blood drive from Monday 2/24
through Friday, 2/28. As usual, the drive will be held in La Sala in
the Student Center. The drive will run from 8pm to 6pm every day
except Tuesday, when it will run 8am-1pm.
Make an appointment (for faster service): https://web.mit.edu/blood-drive/www/
Or sign up to volunteer at the drive: https://tinyurl.com/MITDrive220
Due to the Coronavirus strain that was recently identified in Wuhan,
China, The Red Cross is asking donors who have been to China, Hong
Kong, or Macau not donate until 28 days after their return to the US.
In February, severe winter weather and seasonal illnesses (even
without the coronavirus) can make it difficult for the American Red
Cross to maintain a sufficient blood supply. Your donation can give
hope and strength to patients in need.
In November of 2019, MIT switched to use the Red Cross appointment
system for all appointments. We made this change for several reasons.
MIT's blood drive appointment system was developed in 1999, and turned
20 over the summer. When MIT's system was built, the Red Cross did
not have an on-line appointment system (and it's likely MIT's was the
first such system). MIT's system is showing its age, and the Red
Cross not only has a system, but it has a system that includes
features that MIT's lacks. Maintaining two systems in parallel has
lead to more and more duplication of effort for those of us running
the drive, and provided less and less value. Additionally, we expect
that the Red Cross' system will provide you as a donor with more
flexibility and a better experience. Thanks you for your assistance
during this transition.
The Red Cross is offering an opportunity to complete the reading and
health questionnaire from the comfort of your home or office, which is
supposed to save you around 15 minutes at the drive itself. To do this,
visit https://www.redcrossblood.org/rapidpass, but be aware of several
caveats: 1) this *must* be done the same day as your donation 2) You will
need to be able to show a copy of your form (either emailed to yourself,
or printed) at the drive 3) MIT's drives are located in zip code 02139
The Red Cross relies on appointments to decide how many staff to
provide on a given day. Making appointments will decrease your wait,
and make the drive run faster as a whole (even if you can only tell us
what day you want to donate, and not what time during the day.) To make
an appointment, fill out the form at:
https://web.mit.edu/blood-drive/www/
If you cannot make an appointment please feel free to come to the
drive and donate anyway.
We can always use more volunteers to help out during the drive to get
people registered quickly and take some of the pressure off the Red
Cross workers. Even if you can't donate blood, you're encouraged to
donate some of your time to the drive. Some of the services that
volunteers may perform are registering donors, staffing the canteen,
and providing moral support to the donors. No previous experience is
necessary to volunteer. All these efforts are important to the
drive's success. To volunteer, sign up at https://tinyurl.com/MITDrive220
Blood Donation Factoids:
* No strenuous exercise before or after donating. If you exercise
before donating, be sure to drink even more fluids to replace what
you lost during your work out.
* Cancer patients use nearly one quarter of the blood supply – more
than patients fighting any other disease.
If you want to forward this message, feel free as long as you are
sending it to a friend, or to a list for which it is appropriate. In
other words, feel free to forward, but please don't spam people on our
behalf. If anyone wants to get on our mailing list they can check the
appropriate box when making an appointment, or fill out the form at
https://web.mit.edu/blood-drive/www/email.html
+ The MIT Blood Drive Coordinators
If you wish to be added or removed from any of the blood drive lists,
please send an email request to blood-drive-request@mit.edu only.
-------- List subscription Info; Please include in unsubscribe requests -------
blood-drive: blood-drive-donors: blood-drive-donors-strings: apo-news-mtg@charon
