Norman North class to hold blood drive Sept. 28

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Students at a Norman North High School club are putting on a blood drive in cooperation with Our Blood Institute on Sept. 28.

From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the public is invited to visit the Nancy O’Brian Center, 1809 Stubbeman Ave., where they can donate blood. Sessions last about one hour, and walk-ins are welcome.

Donors will receive a free Halloween glow-in-the-dark T-shirt, lunch, and a pass to the Oklahoma City Zoo. Names will be put in a drawing for a free car.

“Next week’s blood drive at the Norman North High School is part of one of our Bob Moore partner events. We have several blood drives going all through next week where people donate at those blood drives. They will be entered to win a 2023 Kia Soul,” said Melissa Santoro, Oklahoma City recruitment manager for OBI.

She said Bob Moore will select a winner Sept. 30, two days after the blood drive event.

Mason Phillips, a junior at Norman North and event organizer, is a part of DECA, a class where students learn about entrepreneurship and other aspects of business. He said every year the class puts on a blood drive.

“This year, we are trying to reach a goal of over 150 donors,” he said.

He said DECA is a marketing and entrepreneurship class that builds leaders to go out and improve the world.

Currently, OBI has less than a three-day supply of blood.

“It’s not perfect, but we were managing to hold steady. We really could use some more blood donors. We’d like to have about a three-day supply on our shelves and it’s a little lower than that,” said Santoro.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, blood donations have been down, and Santoro said blood banks haven’t fully recovered.

“We’re just not seeing the turnout at our blood drives like we used to in the past, especially pre COVID levels,” she said. “We were out of the high schools for so long, so those younger donors are not really exposed to blood drives.”

She said drives like the one at Norman North can teach young people the importance of giving blood throughout their lives.

“Our older donors are aging out, or have different factors why they can no longer donate, so we’re really needing those young people to step up and donate and provide a new generation of blood donors to help maintain the supply that we need,” said Santoro.

OBI provides the blood to 90% of the health providers in the state, including Norman Regional Health System, University of OU Health, Little Axe Health Center, SSM Health, Mercy Hospital and Integris.

“In Oklahoma City, we supply all the blood products to all the hospitals,” she said.

Santoro said she was impressed at Norman North for setting trends that can improve health outcomes for people in Oklahoma.

“I think it’s amazing. They are so energetic. When we put together a blood drive, the goal is for students to make it their own,” she said. “When they do that, we see such a bigger success rather than when it is just a blood drive they are not involved with.”

Sarah Shuman, a junior at Norman North, is helping to organize the event.

“We really tie this into marketing,” she said. “It is most importantly to help out community because with each donation we can save three lives. We like to take it as an opportunity just to help Norman as a whole because if you have the opportunity to, help save someone’s life, why would you not take it?”

She said the club is making signs and posting about it to social media.

“It also gives us the opportunity to tell people about DECA and get them more involved if they’ve never heard of it,” she said.

Mason said he recently attended a conference at the University of Central Oklahoma through DECA.

“We went to a conference with OBI at UCO a few weeks ago, and as they said, blood is always in demand and blood will always be needed,” he said. “Every year, we try to help as much as we can.”

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