By Al Staropoli

AABB Contributing Writer

Among "ooohs" and "aaahs," a batch of tiny, red Play-Doh “dots” is passed around to elementary school students. These learning aids give young donors a sense of what a blood cell is. It’s the “touch and feel” part of the “Be a Hero” program led by United Blood Services of Louisiana in collaboration with the state’s school system.

The program has been around for at least a decade and teaches students the basics of blood donation, while at the same time cultivating future donors. It is held in elementary and middle schools as well as with Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops and youth groups.

The educational materials, developed by the Blood Systems Foundation and the Alberta B. Farrington Foundation, introduce students to cool blood drop “Ubie” through classroom materials. Ubie, who sometimes shows up in person during presentations as a mascot, guides students through the basics of blood.

“Be a Hero” breaks things down things to a basic level. Elementary school students are taught the function of red cells and how they are used to save lives, they learn about platelets and plasma, and they are familiarized with the donation process.

They also learn about unconventional heroes. “We ask them to identify the heroes they recognize. The typical names we get are Superman and Batman,” said Landers, director of donor recruitment at United Blood Services of Louisiana. “But then we ask, ‘What if we told you that someone you know could be a hero?’”

Landers introduces the concept that anyone who can save a life can be a hero, including the children’s parents, by making a blood donation to someone in need. “Their part in being a hero is encouraging those in the community to become blood donors,” she said. Although the program primarily targets parents, anyone over age 16 — siblings, aunts, uncles and other family members — can donate as part of this initiative.

Before launching a program, Landers suggests meeting principals and teachers to get their buy-in and form a partnership from the get-go. The meeting also helps to clarify the fact that the program is primarily about education and secondarily about hosting blood drives.

“One of the keys to success is getting in front of the students. We find that the more face-to-face time, the more successful our blood drives,” Landers said. “It’s one thing to give the materials to the teacher, but it’s the blood center’s job to take the learning process to the next level. Also, being present at the school and using displays and visuals during the presentation helps motivate the students.”

By implementing its program outside school groups, UBS sometimes is able to incorporate blood center tours to provide students with a much broader perspective. Scouts also can earn badges through their participation.

Landers believes that the power of incentives cannot be overestimated. Students participating in the program receive a youth-sized T-shirt with “Pint Size Hero” printed on the front. They proudly wear them to class or, in schools with uniforms, an exception is made on the day following the donation so that students can wear their shirts.

UBS also works with corporate sponsors. Exxon Mobil, which has a facility in Baton Rouge, donates five laptop computers every semester to raffle off to student volunteers who help recruit parents to the drives. Incentives also are offered for friendly competitions among classes and teachers. Pizza parties are thrown for the class that brings the most donors, and a special prize goes to the top student recruiter.

Timing is very important, according to Landers. The drive has to be planned at times that are convenient for parents and, if possible, held in conjunction with events such as PTA meetings or basketball games, when parents will already be coming to the school.

UBS also provides teachers with packets to promote the drive. The packet includes sign-up sheets, posters, educational materials for classrooms and reminder slips for parents. Students get involved by hanging posters and volunteering on-site to greet donors and serve refreshments.

According to Landers, the focus needs to be on education rather than the blood drive. “As recruitment-minded individuals, we are focused on the blood drive goal, but we have to step back. We have to provide an ongoing educational component. This is important if we want to cultivate future donors,” she said.

Landers offers the following tips to those just starting a program:

·         Assign recruitment staff to the project.

·         Outline the program and benefits to schools.

·         Meet with the superintendent for approval.

·         Schedule presentations with principals and teachers.

·         Schedule student educational presentations. (Face-to-face interaction is key.)

·         Reinforce positive student involvement and provide incentives.

·         Involve student groups to allow for ownership of community mission.

Facebook

Today’s youngest donors are part of the “millennial” generation. Comprising nearly 75 million individuals born between 1981 and 1993, this is likely to become the best-educated generation in U.S. history. Millennials are techno-savvy, constantly connected though social networking sites and have never known a life without computers.

Blair Owren, supervisor of donor recruitment at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, hopes to capitalize on the generation’s technological aptitude through “Boston Blood Donors,” the joint blood and platelet donor program’s Facebook page.

Facebook is one of many social networking sites used by millennials. Facebook users create a “profile” — essentially a mini-Web page about themselves — by posting photos, videos and sharing their likes and dislikes through blogs and favorite links. Profiles are then updated frequently to share latest news with “friends” linked to the page. Facebook counts millions of people as members and is free. One needs an account to see other people’s pages, however.

Owren, a 28-year-old Facebook user, came up with the idea to create the page last summer. “We knew how effective Facebook was because we could see what causes our friends were involved in,” she said. “The Facebook page describes the donation process, includes donor testimonials, lists upcoming community blood drives and showcases photos of previous events.”

Facebook users can opt to become “fans” of Boston Blood Donors and have the page linked to their profile. “Any of their friends who go to their page can then see that they are linked to our page. It’s a great way to advertise our cause and get the word out among young people. It’s kind of a high-tech version of word-of-mouth,” Owren said. Nearly 100 people are currently linked to the page.

“When we send information packages to high schools and colleges, we always include a flier letting them know that we’re on Facebook and ask them to check us out. In Massachusetts you can donate when you’re 16 with parental consent, so high school students are definitely a population we want to target,” she added.

Because of the Internet, millennials are used to having a lot of information at the tip of their fingertips. Recent studies on blood donation show that having the right information can be very empowering.

Owren updates the Boston Blood Donors Facebook page frequently, highlighting any upcoming promotions and what is going on at the blood donor centers. Once an announcement is posted on the page, fans are alerted through their Facebook accounts. In the fall Owren posted an announcement on the page saying that all who donated would be entered into a raffle to win Madonna concert tickets. “The page allowed us to get the word out right away to the specific group we wanted to target. It was a big draw, and we got a lot of first-time donors.”

High School

Khayla Deans is a senior at William Penn High School in New Castle, Del. She also is the president of the student council that runs the school’s annual blood drive. “I’ve been in the student council since I was a freshman,” Deans said. “But this year will be the first year that I’ll be able to donate.”

Deans speaks to juniors and seniors during their January assembly about the upcoming blood drive and encourages them to sign up. Students are shown a video called “The First Time,” which features students talking to other students about why they gave blood the first time. It also lets students know what it takes to be a donor and what to expect during the donation process. Deans wraps up the presentation by passing out pamphlets with registration cards.

“I also tell them that it’s a good thing to help someone else,” she added. Prior to the assembly, Deans and the officers of the council attend a blood drive planning luncheon sponsored by the Blood Bank of Delmarva in Delaware.

“During this year’s luncheon, we heard the story of a little boy who is only 4 years old and needs to get transfusions every month because of a medical condition. His mom really thanked us because we are the ones who are saving her son’s life. We try to share stories like these with other students,” said Deans.

Deans and the student council members volunteer to help sign up the donors, help them get settled in their stations, and provide snacks and drinks after donation. Teachers also get involved — they announce the drive to students as the date gets closer, and some of them even give extra credit to those who present to donate.

Dave Bonk, director of public relations for the Blood Bank of Delmarva, said that the high school donation program has grown every year and is pretty much in “automatic” these days — but it wasn’t always so. “When we started our program over 20 years ago, we found that students didn’t seem to know a lot about what blood does and its importance in helping patients,” he said. “Back then, during our school visits we used to get a lot of questions from students as to why they should give blood. It seemed clear that something had to be done to help schools teach their students about blood,” he added.

For nearly a decade now, the Blood Bank of Delmarva has sponsored “My Blood, Your Blood,” a program held in collaboration with local schools. The program’s materials — funded by the Foundation for America’s Blood Centers — consist of a video, a teacher’s guide, posters and a Web site with teacher resources. Topics covered include blood biology, research and the importance of being a blood donor.

The program has caught on with the schools. “Every year we get dozens of requests for the packet,” said Bonk. “My feeling is that students are much more informed today than they were when we began our drives. I think the education program has definitely contributed to that.”

“My Blood, Your Blood” materials are available for both elementary and middle/high school. They are free to schools on the Delmarva peninsula through the blood center or available through America’s Blood Centers for a small fee.

College

The blood donor program at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is less than 5 years old. Michelle Loveys Dozier, marketing specialist at the center, built the college donor program from scratch.

She reached out by calling the dean of students and asking if she knew of any students who would be willing to form a committee for the blood drive. Armed with a few student names, Dozier braved some cold calls until a small team of graduate students began to emerge from the business school.

Once the committee was in place, Dozier had lunch with the committee head once a month to answer questions, coordinate efforts and keep things on track. As the event drew closer, Dozier met them on a weekly basis. She also answered frequent e-mails peppered with questions. Due to the students’ and faculty schedules, it was agreed that the drive should be a weeklong event.

“Students took on the challenge,” Dozier said. “Part of the recruitment was done through an after-hours event on campus. During the event the committee gave a brief presentation, and a student who had received blood for a cancer treatment shared his story.”

One of the biggest barriers to the drive was that the blood center does not have a mobile unit. Donors actually have to physically come into the hospital to donate. To overcome this, students volunteered and formed carpools to shuttle donors to and from the medical center. In all, more than 50 donors showed.

News of the drive caught some attention. “The engineering graduate school recently learned about the drive held by the business school and asked if they could also host one,” Dozier said. “Next year we’re having a ‘Vampire Cup’ — we’ll just have to wait and see who gets more donors!”

This article was published in the current issue of AABB News.