The students of The University of Memphis law school are drawingblood over their educations -- literally.
The Student Bar Association (SBA) of the Cecil C. HumphreysSchool of Law has joined forces with St. Jude Children's ResearchHospital in an effort to persuade U of M students to donate bloodfor St. Jude patients Oct. 6 through Oct. 11.
SBA President Michael Thorne said this is an opportunity forstudents to give back to an important local institution withouthaving to give up their scarcest commodity -- money.
"College and professional school students often don't have thefinancial resources to contribute to such a great cause," Thornesaid. "But by donating our blood, we can make an equal or greatercontribution to the work at St. Jude. We free up resources fortheir people to focus their efforts on other, more importantthings."
Students can donate blood in the form of whole blood orplatelets.
Donating whole blood takes about 45 minutes, while donatingplatelets takes about two hours. The process is longer withplatelets because blood is drawn, the platelets are separated, andthe blood is inserted back into the donor. The process of donatingwhole blood simply involves drawing blood.
While donating whole blood is quicker, blood- donor recruiterKimberly Stevenson said the greatest need at St. Jude is forplatelet donations.
"Our need is great," Stevenson said. "Every day there is a childhere who needs platelets," she said. "When we can't get them fromvolunteer donors, we have to go to outside sources, which can costbetween $500 and $700 (per unit)."
St. Jude registered nurse Molly Clark said the need forplatelets is accentuated by a short shelf life. "Platelets are goodfor only five days, so we try reach 15 to 25 (platelet) donors perday."
But those numbers are not always met, and large amounts of moneyare spent on purchasing platelets from outside sources, Clarkadded.
A greater number of donations during next week's push wouldallow the hospital to use funds that might go toward purchasingplatelets for other patient needs.
"Any money we save goes right back to the patients' medication,other supplies and research," Clark said.
U of M students who participate in the drive will free up moneyfor the groundbreaking research at St. Jude, said SBA SecretaryAmber Murphy
"In my mind, by giving blood you are lowering patient costs andthat is money (St. Jude) can funnel into research that can do ...miracles," she said.
All students, not just law students, are encouraged toparticipate. And students who don't give platelets are stillencouraged to participate in giving whole blood, the process ofwhich is relatively short, much of the time being in recovery,Murphy said.
"The actual taking of the blood takes about 15 minutes," Murphysaid.
Students who participate by giving blood in either form aregiven juice and cookies following their donation, but plateletdonors get an extra surprise.
"If you give the platelets, (the donation staff) will show you afree movie of your choice," Murphy said.
The movies available for viewing are films that are no longerout in theatres, but have yet to be released for publicpurchase.
For more information, call the St. Jude Blood Donor Center at495-2024 or e-mail appointment requests toangel.sanders@stjude.org. Blood donations are by appointment only.All appointments are conducted at the Blood Donor Center in themain building on the St. Jude campus. For more information,brochures are available in the law school, Room 109B, or call theSBA office, 678-2427.
